


Heart's Oath

by HeavensChocolate



Category: Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Mordred as a Persona, Shiho is joining the party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2018-12-08 15:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 107,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11649798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavensChocolate/pseuds/HeavensChocolate
Summary: Shirou Emiya, expelled from Homurahara Academy after he defended Illya from getting harassed, has been transferred to Tokyo where he must try and live an honest student life. Unknowingly ensnared by the manipulations of the man he could trust the most, he walks down a path of ruin in a rigged game where not even the Trickster can overcome.





	1. Life will change

_He stared down at his own bloodied hands and did not flinched._

_He stared down at the three beaten down students, bleeding and bruising and did not flinched._

_He stared down at the blue haired student he had once call a friend, the very same student whose jaw was dislodged and teeth scattered on the floor and did_ **_not_ ** _flinched._

_He stared down at the horrified crowd of students and parents as they pointed fingers at him and as a mother of one of the down student swore revenge on him…_ **_and he did not flinch_ ** _._

_He stared down at the horrified and guilt filled expression on Illya's expression, her big red round eyes brimmed with tears, her small body shook with nothing but guilt for something she should've not blamed herself with and…_

_… he looked away…_

_"O-Onii-chan…! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

No…there was nothing to apologize for!

_"It's a-all my f-fault! I-I…!"_

No…no it wasn't! So please…!

_"It's because of me that you can't go to school…isn't it?"_

No Illya! It wasn't because of you! But please…please stop…

_"…Stella-Onee-chan is always glaring at you because I made you do that…I'm sorry…"_

Illya…please just stop…

_"…mama should be punishing me…not you O-Onii-chan…"_

Please…

_"I shouldn't be calling you Onii-chan…should I… i-it's because of me that I ruined your life…!"_

Illya…just stop…stop looking at me with…

_"I've been a bad sister…" The small girl declared, tears streamed down her face, her expression broken and rack with guilt as she turned around and ran away before he had the chance to tell her how wrong she was…_

Please…don't look at me with that expression Illya…my heart can't take it anymore…

_**"You are a slave."** _

Shirou Emiya's golden-brown eyes snapped open.

A shuddering breath escaped him and his face fell into his hands. The dampness of his sweaty hands quickly cooled his skin, he pulled his face back and glared down at them. He gritted his teeth as he noticed the shaking of his body. He shook his head and attempted to gain some semblance of control. He succeeded, but only barely.

He looked up and noticed that the train he had used to get towards Tokyo had come to a stop and a lot of its passengers had disembarked and made way to get started with whatever activities in the city.

Shirou sighed and stood up, hefted the bag with his school supplies over his shoulder, he stretched and found the dark uniform for his new school, Shujin Academy, to be somewhat stiff. He shook his head, followed the other passengers' example, and walked out of the train.

"It's time to start my new life…" He said in resignation, he sighed once more dragged himself away from the train. He reached for the phone in his pockets and pulled it out, he would have to check the map so that he wouldn't get lost. He blinked as something caught his eye. "Hmm?"

It was a weird app, something that hadn't been there when he had received said phone from his father before he left for his journey here. It was creepy to say the least, a red eye with a star as the iris. He hesitated, he didn't know what to do in this situation.

 _'Is this a virus or something?'_  He thought as he pressed his index finger on the app and deleted it. He didn't want for the last gift he had gotten from his family to stop working because of his own inattentiveness. At least he had managed to delete it without problem. "I should really check that this thing isn't downloading stuff by itself…maybe I should turn off the internet for now…"

He fiddled with his cellphone a little bit more and nodded in satisfaction. He then stopped when he saw the phone shape app down below…right, he would need to call back home and assure them that he had made it safely to his new living area.

…though, he didn't want to call now, he just needed a few more moments before he could muster up the courage to face his family again…even if it was just their voices.

He prayed that Stella would be the one to pick up, he didn't have the heart to take Illya's downtrodden behavior or his mother's disappointed voice or even Liz's monotone voice filled with a sprinkle of irritation directed towards him. He much rather preferred Stella's clear-cut anger, he could handle that.

Though he really would've prefer if his dad picked up…though, that was just a pipe dream on his part, as the man had gone away into another one of his business trips two days before he left. His father had been understanding of the situation and hadn't felt disappointed in him. He took it well, far too well in fact…the preparations for where he would be staying and at what school he would attend had been handled rather swiftly.

Somewhere inside of Shirou's head, paranoia fueled him as a dark thought pierced through his head…

**_What if he wanted to get rid of me?_ **

It would make sense…wouldn't it? He was just the adopted son, he wasn't even their child related by blood…so maybe they just took this opportunity to get ri—!

He shook his head and tried to get rid of those dark thoughts. He knew it wasn't true, it was just his own teenage angst that overwhelmed him after everything that had happened. He just needed to focus on getting towards his new living place, talk to his new guardian, and make that call.

Shirou took deep breath and walked forward. He blinked, looked down at the phone and noted the day.

April seventh.

From this day onward, his life had changed.

.

.

.

.

4/7 Afternoon

Shirou made it towards the apartment complex in Shibuya in record time. He stared at the building and found that it didn't looked too bad. The building was grey, little cracks here and there on the walls from the years probably, but it was fine. He adjusted the bag over his shoulder as he finished his inspection and took his phone out, he hesitated at the sign of the call app.

He stood frozen in place as dread filled him.  _'Come on…just make the call already…'_

He sighed, there was no use over feeling afraid. He should get the call out of the way now, better than to let his anxiety grow and bloom into something worse. So, he should do it and be done with it.

He blinked and noticed that he had instinctively made the call while his mind was in turmoil. He winced when the call was picked up from the other side of the line. He brought the phone up to his ear and steeled himself.

"Uh…hello?"

"Shirou." The curt and stern voice on the other line made him almost sighed in relief, it was Stella that had picked up. "Have you finally made it to Tokyo?"

"Yeah…huh…I'm actually standing in front of the apartment where I'll be staying…"

"I had thought that your mother told you to call as soon as you made it into the city and not a moment after, are you already trying to cause trouble?"

"Wha—! No, no, no…I'm…I mean I was just, feeling nervous…" Shirou confessed as he looked down with downcast eyes.

"…" Stella stayed silent at that and Shirou wilted more at the growing silence. Then a sigh could be heard from the other line. "Then get a grip young man, do remember that your actions have big consequences and you must pay for them. Nothing comes cheap in life, so you better start taking your situation seriously. You may have avoided getting a criminal record to destroy your future completely, but now your face is mostly associated with that of some common delinquent who hurts other people."

Shirou sighed at the words and looked down. "I know…"

"…to you it may seem as we here hate you or resent you Shirou, but we don't. We understand that what you did was to protect Lady Illya from those brutes who dare harass her…in fact we are very proud that you played your part as the older brother and protected your younger sibling." A pause as Stella sighed once more and her voice gained some edge. "But on the other hand, we are severely disappointed in you for how you handled things. Violently beating up those students and even going as far as breaking the jaw of another? That is too much! But that wasn't the end of the consequences for your poor decision making Shirou. Your actions were broadcast over the news and you have disappointed your parents."

"Stella…" Shirou started but was cut off when said woman raised her voice.

"But more than anything else! You failed in your duty as an older brother. You may have protected her from physical harm…but Lady Illya still suffers emotional pains for blaming herself for your poor decisions making."

Shirou grimaced and wilted even further at those words. No words left him as images from Illya tear stained face hit him.

_"O-Onii-chan…! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

_"It's a-all my f-fault! I-I…!"_

_"It's because of me that you can't go to school…isn't it?"_

_"I shouldn't be calling you Onii-chan…should I…i-it's because of me that I ruined your life…!"_

_"I've been a bad sister…"_

Stella stayed silent for a few moments, just so that he could process her words and let the weight of the situation settle in. Once more she sighed. "Your family is still dealing with the consequences of your actions. Try to not cause any more problems…okay? Is the least you could do for Lady Illya."

"…"

"Shirou?" Stella pressured with a little bit of firmness.

"I understand…" Shirou finally responded, his voice emotionless as he stared off into space.

"Good…you said you were standing in front of the apartment where you are going to be staying right? Then go on and remember your manners. The one who will be taking care of you is Maiya Hisau, an acquaintance of your father. You should have the floor and number of her apartment in that phone of yours." She paused for a moment. "I shall tell the rest of your family that you have made it safely and that you understand your situation. Farewell Shirou."

"…bye Stella." Shirou said after a moment and the line finally went dead. Shirou pocketed his phone back and looked up at the building once more. As if the burden of the world had fallen onto his shoulders, he walked with heavy steps towards meeting his new caretaker.

.

.

.

.

He passed one of the many apartment doors that belonged on the floor he was on and finally stopped on the correct numbered door. He looked down at his cellphone, made sure he had the address of the apartment, glanced away from the phone, and looked towards the rest of the hall with a somber expression. He sighed and knocked on the door three times.

Shirou waited patiently for the door to open. He kept he's ears up in attention for any footsteps on the other side of the door, but found nothing but silence. He tilted his head and checked his phone again.

"Is she gone…?" He asked softly, he's expression tightened at that. Then he heard the loud click of the door being unlock and then being pulled opened. He looked away from his phone and stared at the woman who would be his guardian. He had to blink and gulped nervously as she stared down at him with cold black eyes.

Maiya Hisau was a woman dressed almost entirely in black. A black long-sleeve shirt with only some grey accented on the front and sleeves adorned her upper body. She wore black pants loosely, mostly to let her legs breath. She was also barefooted.

Shirou blinked and focused on her face and noted that she looked, ordinary. Not beautiful or anything special like his mother European features, nor was she ugly. Her expression was quite plain…except for her eyes. Those cold merciless eyes made him back up a little as they even lacked any shine of light in them.

That fact unnerved him.

Her eyes stayed train on him, not really caring how it made him feel. Her face expressionless as she gauged him up as well, Shirou noticed as she looked at him from head to toe. Then her eyes focused back on his eyes and he had to stop himself from flinching at the cold gaze.

"Emiya Shirou…it has been a while since I've last seen you." She said, her voice monotone and measure. Shirou blinked at her choice of words and tilted his head in confusion. "It was a long time ago, your father had some business to attend to and I was picking him up, you refused to let him get on the car."

"Oh…" Shirou looked down and tried to recollect the event, but… "Sorry, but I don't remember…I'm sorry."

Maiya shook her head. "It's fine, you were but a child back then…you still are. Come in."

At her words, she stepped to the side and leave room for him to enter. As he prepared to take his first step towards his new home, he noted how she grimaced and held onto her shoulder in pain.

Shirou stopped mid-step and his eyes lightened up with concern. "Hey, are you okay?"

"It's fine, just a minor injury from work." Maiya said as she let go of her shoulder and looked at him with a cold expression. She then looked at her left wrist, where her watch was. "…you actually arrived much earlier than I anticipated."

The redhead furrowed his brows at that. "Is that…bad?"

The cold woman shook her head and looked back at him. "No, today I took the day off from my job just for this. I owed a lot to your father, so it was the least that I could do to take care of you."

"So, it's no problem?"

"Like I said, I owe your father. Taking care of you could not possibly be a bother, but…since you have arrived so early, it means that I can take the opportunity to show you how the subway system works on Shibuya and how to get to your school." Maiya explained plainly. "You will start classes tomorrow, so introducing you to the staff today is a possibility. I had actually expected you to arrive much later, if such was the case, then we would've been force to introduce you to your new school tomorrow."

"I guess…" The boy said as he scratched his cheek nervously, the woman was somewhat suffocating with her blunt and near robotic responses.

"This is more fortunate for you, it means that you will not have to worry about getting up far too early in the morning to do said introductions. It will also mean that I won't have to worry much about you after today." The woman bluntly said as she looked down on the redhead.

"Huh…?"

"I will not be taking care of you in such a direct manner. After I show you how to get to your new school, you will live an independent life for the rest of the year while your parents try to fix the mess that you left behind in Fuyuki." Her cold and callous words made Shirou winced. "My rules for your stay are quite simple, so there should not be any problem for you to follow them.

Shirou scratched the back of his head and looked at her. "Uh…so what are they?"

"Firstly, from tomorrow onward, it will be your responsibility to make it in time to your school and as well to prepare your own breakfast. The way your father described you to me, you are someone who took a fancy to cooking did you not? Then you are free to use whatever ingredient you find on the fridge. Do not worry about me and just focus on your meal."

"Huh!? But that's not proper at all! I mean…I can make breakfast for the two of u—!"

She raised her right hand and cut him off. "Like I said, don't worry about such things. There would be a couple of mornings where I won't be on the apartment or sleeping until very late. My job is a very tiresome and a consuming one, which is why I am telling you to be self-dependent and not to worry about me. I will make sure that you have the proper means to eat and have a roof over your head, so don't worry about issues with money."

"But still…" Shirou looked down with a trouble expression, he didn't like how there was nothing for him to do and help. It made him feel…like a parasite that leeched off his caretaker.

Maiya continued as if she had not been interrupted. "Your school duties are your responsibility. I shall not help you study, you should handle that by yourself. The only thing I expect from you are that you get good grades as per demanded from your mother. So, make sure to study and excel. Aside from that, I have no problems with you wondering through the city and familiarizing yourself with it. I shall give you my spare keys for the apartment, so that you won't be locked out. Though, do make sure to not stay up to late, the streets of Tokyo as whole are much more dangerous than that of Fuyuki. So, do comeback if you see that it's getting too late and check your phone for directions if you get lost."

"…" The redhead nodded at her words and looked up at her. Maiya turned away from him and rolled her shoulder uncomfortably.

"Like I said before, you will be staying here until your parents find a way to fix what had happened on Fuyuki and get you admitted again Homurahara Academy…stay there, let me grab my bag and shoes so that we may be on our way to Shujin Academy." She said and turned away without waiting for his response. Shirou just obeyed, stepped back, and leaned against the wall behind him. He didn't have to wait long as she came out with her bag and shoes on, she closed her apartment door and looked at him. "Come."

She walked away without waiting for him. He jogged to try and catch up to her.

.

.

.

.

The subway system in Shibuya was confusing even with a guide. It also incredibly uncomfortable, with the amount of people around him and Maiya. To board a train, it was a battle in of itself, and once inside of said train it was hard to not suffocate under the sea of cramp bodies. It was all so different from Fuyuki, that city was tame compare to the one he had been transferred to.

As he walked toward his new school he stared at the back of his guardian…the unflappable and cold woman's expression had barely changed since they had left the apartment complex. He didn't know what to think of her as they grew closer and closer to the school. He looked around and found that they were going up against the sea of Shujin students who were done for the day, he looked around at all of them, their faces barely registered into his mind as they talked among themselves.

Finally, they made it to the gates of the school and went up inside the building. Maiya turned towards him, her expression the same controlled and cold one.

"Wait here, I need to talk with the Administration counter and see if a meeting with the principal is available." She gestured towards the side, where an aged lady was working.

Shirou nodded silently and saw the woman walked towards the counter. The redhead stepped back and looked down, arms firmly placed by his side. He blinked as the events of the day rain down on him.

"Hey, I've never seen that guy before…"

"Me neither!"

The redhead blinked as he saw a couple of students looked at him with raised eyebrows, they turned away when they noticed he caught them looking.

"Is that hair his natural color? Can't be! What is it with all the guys and dyeing their hairs!"

"That hair color is so horrible!"

A group of girls mocked his hair, he tried to find who was it, but couldn't determined where. Still, the gossip continued.

"Hey is he like Takamaki? Aren't the American's the only ones with that hair color?"

"It's Irish…I think…"

"Hey, I recognized that guy! He was the one from that video!"

"What video…?"

He frowned at that, was he that recognizable in the internet? He had at least hoped that until his first day of school he could go off unanimous, but it seemed that luck wasn't on his side.

_…remember that your actions have big consequences and you must pay for them…_

The words of Stella resonated deep within him. He sighed at that.

"Come Shirou, the principal has agreed to meet us." Maiya's voice cut through his brooding thoughts and he looked up. She stared at him with her cold expression, then turned away to walk to their destination.

The redhead followed her obediently.

"I knew I recognize that guy! That's the guy who broke some student's jaw from his own school!"

"What is someone like that doing here!? Isn't one delinquent enough!?"

Shirou glanced behind him, but didn't stop as he continued to edge forward. Maiya and him went up to the second floor where more students were scatter through the halls, the two ignored them. Within a few brisk steps they made it to the principal's office. Maiya knocked on the door two times and waited patiently.

"You may enter." A man's voice called out after a minute. The dark woman wasted no time to pull the door open and stepped off toward the side to let her new ward enter. Shirou did so, turned to see a very large bald man seated on a desk and another older man with a sneering frown on his face that stood beside the seated man.

The large entwined his fingers and leaned forward slightly, the action proved difficult thanks to his very large stomach.

"So, you are Hisau-san? I had the received the notice from the young man's father that you would be taking care of him."

"Yes." Maiya responded simply and looked down at them with the same monotone expression on her face. The large man squirmed a little at the intensity of her cold gaze, while the other man glared directly at Shirou.

"Well I am the principal of this fine institution, Kobayakawa." He gestured for the man beside him. "This here will be the homeroom teacher I had chosen for him, Ushimaru-san. I believe you were quite lucky to make it here now, as Ushimaru-san was in a meeting with me, I had seen it as good opportunity for you to meet him."

Ushimaru crossed his arms. "You better take to your studies seriously boy, do you understand? I must already deal with one delinquent in my class and now I get another, don't cause any problems. Is that understood?"

"…" Shirou nodded silently, with that the meeting went underway. The principal talked and made clear of the consequences if he stepped out of line. Shirou nodded numbly whenever the conversation was directed at him, but he barely paid any attention. Maiya herself just looked on with a stoic expression, she answered with curt and cold replies.

The meeting went on for twenty minutes, nothing but reprimands and reminders of the consequences.

Ushimaru turned towards the principal with an annoyed look after he saw that Shirou wasn't reacting much. "Why did you stick this boy with me, principal? I already have to deal with that Sakamoto, now you're piling another delinquent on my class?"

Principal shook his head. "Sakamoto and this young man need a stern hand to guide them away from becoming trouble for our prestigious school. You are a man who I trust can accomplish this."

The teacher glanced away from his superior and gave Shirou an unamused look. "So, what? You're going to stick the other kid with the criminal record on me to?"

The redhead's downed expression suddenly perked up at those words. A student with a criminal record?

"No, of course not Ushimaru-san! The other transfer student, shall be taken by another teacher, I just haven't decided who yet." Kobayakawa said with a smile, then he turned towards Shirou and his face grew stern. "I know I'm putting too much responsibility on your shoulders with this, Ushimaru-san, but I know you shall succeed."

"Humph." The teacher grunted and looked away with a frown.

"Will that be all? I have other business to attend to." Maiya spoke once more with her usual monotone tone. The principal turned towards and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Do be sure to keep him in line, Hisau-san. I don't want him starting any fights in my school. If something like that happens, then he will expel."

Maiya looked down at the principal. "I have already told him everything he needs to know. I ask again, is that all?"

The large principal squirmed under the intense look, Ushimaru beside him snorted. "I can see that this woman will reel the boy in…here, Emiya, your student ID card."

Shirou blinked and snapped into reality, he reached to take it. "Uh…thanks…"

Kobayakawa steeled himself under the intense look of the dark woman and waved them off. "You may leave, I shall expect you to be here tomorrow on time and without any incident."

"Go to classroom 2-E, Emiya." Ushimaru ordered. "And be on time! If you get there late, you can forget entering my class! Understood?"

"Yes." Shirou nodded, a sigh of resignation escaped him.

With that said, Maiya lead the way out of the office with Shirou behind her. A soon as he stepped on to the hall, he heard all the Shujinn students whispered among themselves.

"That's him…!"

"Unbelievable! Why would they let someone like him into the school!"

"He broke someone's jaw!"

"What a brute! Like seriously, this is a school for intellectuals…!"

"Holy shit, look at how he walks! He totally looks like he'll punch you on the face at any time!"

"Please, please tell me that the principal kicked him out of the school already! I can't handle another delinquent on my school life!"

"So scary…!"

The whispers assaulted him from every direction, he just narrowed his eyes at them and continued to follow his guardian down to the first floor. But, even there the whispers did not cease as more students talked behind his back…as if he couldn't hear them…

_…remember that your actions have big consequences and you must pay for them…_

Stella's words once echoed in his mind and the redhead could do nothing but sigh at that. They were almost to the exit of the school and the sound of a ringing phone cut through the loud whispers. Shirou looked up to see Maiya on her cellphone, she looked back at him.

"Stay put, I have to answer this." She once more didn't wait for a response as she became engross on her call.

Shirou sighed for the umpteenth time and stepped back, accidentally he bumped into someone.

"W-Woah! Sorry—!" Shirou stuttered as he turned around and looked behind him to see a girl with black, brown eyes. His eyes narrowed at the sight of a dark bruise on her right cheek. She looked up at him in surprise.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I was just standing in the way…" She said with a downtrodden look.

The redhead shook his head. "No, no…I've just been…distracted, I should be more aware of my surroundings."

The girl looked questionably at him and opened her mouth to respond, but…

"Yeah, that's the thug who beat on those guys!"

"Hmm, what an asshole, I remember seeing in the video a little girl crying because of him!"

Those words made Shirou's entire body flinched violently, he looked down and gritted his teeth. Hands tightened into fists.

"Oh shit! He's about to hit Suzui! Can anyone do something!?"

"Humph, not me! I ain't getting my jaw broken!"

The girl in front of him looked around and then her eyes widened, she turned back towards him. She looked at him questionably.

"You are…"

Shirou clicked his tongue and looked away. "I'm sorry…" He apologized, ready to leave as more murmur over his person started to form.

"Wait…!" He stopped at the sudden call from the girl, he turned and gave her questioning look. She just gave him a small smile. "Don't let what others say about you get to you, okay. They just like to talk."

His eyes went wide in shock at the words uttered by the girl. "Why…?"

"Hmm?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Why are you being nice to me? You do recognize me, right?" He asked softly, the feeling of self-deprecation burn deep within him. The girl just smiled.

"I do recognize you…but I'm not the type of person who likes to judge others." She looked away and towards the whispering students. "There's also the fact that I don't like people starting rumors, they tend to run wild and do more damage than good…"

"…" Shirou blinked a couple of times as he processed her words, he straightened up a little and frowned a little as he studied the girl before him. His frown dissipated as he took notice that the actions of the other students seemed somewhat personal to her.

She turned back towards him, brown eyes shined with mirth and a small smile on her face. "And you were nice enough to apologize for bumping into me, even though you didn't need to…so that must count for something."

Shirou found himself snorting, an involuntary smile spread through his face. "Yeah."

"Suzui-san?" A masculine voice called out from behind the girl. The girl stiffened at the voice. Shirou's smile left his face as he noted the girls discomfort, he blinked and titled his head as a muscular man with a square jaw and curly black hair walked towards them. The man stopped and regarded the girl, Suzui. "Come on, you don't want to be late for your practices, hmm?"

"…yeah." Suzui's earlier energy completely evaporated under the watchful gaze of the tall man. Said man turned towards the redhead, raised an eyebrow and then his eyes narrowed.

"Oh…it's you." The man's voice was neutral, but the depth of his disdain was noticeable. "I guess if you're here then that means that you're about to go see principal Kobayakawa."

"I already did." Shirou responded neutrally, his eyes focus on the girl who looked down. He could feel her discomfort rolled of her in waves. The man noticed his stare and placed a hand on the Suzui's shoulder, she stiffened.

"Then if you did so, best be on your way. Classes have ended, meaning you have no business being here. Go off and prepare to attend classes tomorrow." The man leaned forward, hands still on the girl's shoulder. "Don't cause any trouble, is that understood? In your old school, you may have been given the liberty to brawl all you like, but that won't be happening here. You step out of line like you did back on your own school and I'll make sure you go straight to juvie."

"…" He bowed his head at the man's words.

The man nodded and turned away along with the one person who was nice to him on this horrible day. "Good, it seems you understand. Suzui-san, don't associate with someone like him okay? I don't know what I would do if my star player got hurt by someone with such a violent history."

The muscular man had raised his voice rather loudly to say that, and the students all around steered at his words. All looked at the man with admiration and once more began to whisper among themselves.

"Whoa, Kamoshida-san is really the best!"

"Yeah, we have nothing to worry about as long as Kamoshida is around!"

"Oh, come on Kamoshida-sensei! Kick that guy out!"

"Man, I really wish Kamoshida-sensei was my teacher!"

"Geez, Suzui-san, you could at least look happy that Kamoshida-san just bailed you out, what a bitch…"

"Right? But what can you expect…she's friends with that Takamaki, that sluts bad influence must have infected the star player…"

Shirou's brow twitched in annoyance as he looked at the gossiping group of students, he narrowed his eyes as he saw the man, Kamoshida, pushed Suzui away. The dark hair girl looked back at him, her expression somber and uncomfortable under the man's touch. The redhead's eyes remained narrowed until the man and Suzui disappeared behind a corner. He ignored the whispers around him.

_'What was that about…?'_

"Shirou." He was called out by a monotone voice that he started to become accustomed with, so he turned back and saw Maiya by the entrance of the school. She looked impassively at him, arms by her side as she turned on her heel. "Come on, let's go."

The woman walked away, but Shirou hesitated for a second. He turned to look back to the corner the muscular man and Suzui disappeared to one last time, before he made to follow Maiya.

.

.

.

.

The sun had started to set by the time the two had gotten into the apartment. Shirou looked around to find a modest, if boring apartment. It had all the essentials to live in, but it lacked any warmth or life to it. All the necessary things for an apartment, but nothing else.

Among the somewhat luxurious couches, tables, plasma TV and everything else…it looked barren.

Maiya headed to exit the apartment, she stopped and turned towards him. "I'll be leaving now."

Shirou blinked and looked at her with wide eyes. "Wait, why?"

"Like I told the principal at your new school, I have other business to attend to." She looked at her watch and then winced. She rolled the same shoulder from earlier in the day in discomfort, before she gave him a sharp look. "I already told you, didn't I? You will be leaving by yourself independently here while I go and attend to my own business. I bet you are feeling hungry, go and prepare yourself dinner."

"Right, but what about you Maiya-san?" Shirou asked, he blinked in surprise as her name rolled off his tongue. Then he blushed as he remembered he never called her by name. Hadn't Stella told him to be mindful of his manners?

The woman paid it no heed as she fetched something from her bag.

"Like I told you, don't worry about me. I will most likely not be here until morning or after you left for school. Hmm, here we go." She then pulled a set of keys and placed them on the small table beside the entrance door. "Those are the spare keys for the apartment. If you wish to leave for the night and explore, then you are free to do so at your leisure. Do remember my warnings of the streets and that you have school tomorrow morning, so if you wake up late and start to gather a bad reputation at your school because of it, then it's on you."

"Humph…that thing started without me actually…" Shirou muttered under his breath in annoyance. Once more the woman paid him no heed.

"I do not need to tell you to keep out of my own bedroom do I, I believe your parents have thought you about manners."

"O-Of course—!" Shirou blush deep red at the implication. "I wouldn't enter a lady's room!"

"Then if you understand that, I'll be on my way." She opened the door and step out.

"Oh! Good—!" Shirou stumbled a little as he hurriedly tried to bid his farewells, but was cut short when the woman closed the door behind her without letting him finish. "—night…"

He drooped a little at the woman's callous and cold behavior. He blinked and looked around the apartment, he scratched his head as he was greeted with silence.

He sighed. "Better take a bath…maybe that will help get some of the stress of my body…"

Nearly an hour later and that proved false, he still felt stressed out and down over the circumstances of his arrival to Tokyo. He shook his head and rubbed his stomach.

"Hungry…" He looked at the small kitchen, he closed his eyes as he felt a small but noticeable pressure build up on the back of his neck. "Cooking, yeah, if I can cook and take my mind off things…"

Twenty minutes later and Shirou had to stop the knife mid-cut of the fish in his hands. He clenched his jaw and glared at the apartment. He sighed scornfully and glazed at the TV with narrowed eyes. His grip on the knife tightened as the pressure from earlier grew more on his back.

Moments later, the television was blasting sound from the random channel it had be on when he turned it on, but he paid no heed to what the TV said. He only cared that the apartment was filled with sound.

Almost another hour later and he finished his dinner…alone on the dining table. He turned towards the TV, the news talked about an incident that had occurred but the words were barely coherent to him. He sighed as he looked around the dining table and noted…just how empty it felt…

The apartment felt abandoned…

It was something so different from the life he had been forced to abandoned, where his home was usually so lively and full of activities…

Stella's bickering and overbearing personality…

Liz's blunt and somewhat innocent mischievous actions that she accomplished with her usual straight face…

Mom's carefree and ditzy behavior as well as her indulging her favorite past-time of embarrassing him…

Dad's usual calm or childish personality, always there to pull him out of being embarrassed to much…

And Illya's…

He looked down at the plates and picked them up. He washed them roughly, put them back into place, turned off the TV and went to bed. He picked up his phone and saw that it was only eight in the evening. He sighed and entered his room…

His barren and dull bedroom.

A bed, a dresser with a lamp on top of it, a closet, and a window to let him see off into the city.

Shirou Emiya stared at his room numbly, walked towards his bed and laid there on top of the covers.

Golden brown eyes glared emotionlessly at the ceiling. The seconds ticked by, the silence grew more overbearing by every tick and he stubbornly tried to drill a hole into the ceiling.

He brought his phone to his phone and saw that it was past nine in the evening. More than an hour had passed...

He sighed, his eyelids heavy, he rolled over as he finally relented from his stubbornness and tried to catch some sleep.

A few seconds later he fell to sleep.

_He stared down at his own bloodied hands and did not flinched._

_He stared down at the three beaten down fellow students, bleeding and bruising and did not flinched._

_He stared down at the blue haired student he had once call a friend, the very same student whose jaw was dislodged and teeth scattered on the floor and did_ **_not_ ** _flinched._

_He stared down at the horrified crowd of students and parents as they pointed fingers at him and as a mother of one of the down student swore revenge on him…_ **_and he did not flinch_ ** _._

_He stared down at the horrified and guilt filled expression on Illya's expression, her big red round eyes brimmed with tears, her small body shook with nothing but guilt for something she should've not blame herself with and…_

_… he looked away…_

_"O-Onii-chan…! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

_"It's a-all my f-fault! I-I…!"_

_"It's because of me that you can't go to school…isn't it?"_

_"…Stella-Onee-chan is always glaring at you because I made you do that…I'm sorry…"_

_"…mama should be punishing me…not you O-Onii-chan…"_

_"I shouldn't be calling you Onii-chan…should I… i-it's because of me that I ruined your life…!"_

_"I've been a bad sister…" The small girl declared with tears streaming down her face, her expression broken and rack with guilt as she turned around and ran away before he had the chance to tell her how wrong she was…_

_…so, he chose to pursue her…_

_…pursue her until he found she disappeared into an abysmal darkness…_

_…he looked at the darkness with wide eyes and approached it…_

_Two bright yellow eyes snapped opened from within the dark and glared at him._

_**"You are a slave."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> Hello readers, here's my new story, born from the hundreds of hours I poured into the game of Persona 5. It was a surprise when I got this master piece of a game, a gift from my mom after I finished my college semester. She apparently remembered me mentioning it a while back and heard about it, so she thought that it would a good idea to give it to me as a gift.
> 
> And seriously, what a great idea it was, because I think I didn't see the light of the sun for like three weeks!
> 
> Anyway's, I couldn't help myself and had to write something since a multitude of ideas floated in my head and I just kept on developing them and refining them. I originally wanted to do this story in P5 section by itself, but most of the ideas just lead to the story following the canon story strictly, and I didn't want that.
> 
> But then as I wondered on what to do, I saw an image of Fate/Kaleid Shirou (Illya's brother) getting bully.
> 
> And that gave me inspiration to take the story toward a new direction.
> 
> So I hope you enjoy the story, please leave your thoughts and until next time. Adios.


	2. Live an Honest Student's Life

The morning sunlight filtered through the empty and dull room's window.

He opened his golden-brown eyes, glazed over, and got up in a robotic fashion.

He went outside his room, he looked around and found an empty apartment.

He went into the bathroom, bathed, washed his teeth and cloth himself in the school uniform.

He prepared breakfast, ate, finished, and washed the dishes.

He grabbed the spare keys left to him by Maiya, went out, closed the door of the apartment behind him.

He got to the train station, got in, cramped, and nearly suffocated by the sea of people around him.

"Have you heard of the Mental Shutdown cases? Like they've been happening, like a lot!" A young woman said excitedly minutes after the train had been on the move. Shirou turned towards them, his glazed over eyes regained a little bit of light to them as he got curious.

"You sound far too excited about this. You do realize that people are getting hurt with this." A serious woman responded as she shook her head.

"Ah geez, I know, it's just that all this drama is kinda making life more interesting."

Shirou looked away as the excited woman became flustered. Time passed and the train made it to the corresponding station, everyone disembarked.

He walked and finally made it to the front Shujin Academy.

_4/8 Morning_

The actions Shirou Emiya had taken during the morning had been automatic. A dispassionate and monotone act that would very soon become a routine. A snort escaped him at the thought, as it reminded him of what he had seen Maiya Hisau act like yesterday.

He walked straight, his face dull, eyes looked at nothing as he passed over his new fellow students through the school gates. Once he made it to the entrance of the school building, the eager gossips of the school's student body assaulted his ears.

"Holy shit…what is he doing here?"

"Ah…man I thought the principal had told him that he couldn't enter or something."

"So, he really is coming to our school then? That sucks!"

"Why doesn't he just get lost…? Doesn't he see how much of a bother he is, and just on his first day too!"

"I heard he used to beat up people on his former school all the time!"

"Yeah, I got this friend who knows a guy, who went to the same school as him, and he told me he was the secret bully or something!"

"He better not cause any problems, else I'll kick his ass!"

"Whoa, trying to be as cool as Kamoshida-san?"

"I totally heard he almost punched Suzui-san if it weren't for Kamoshida!"

Shirou sighed as he walked among the sea of 'quiet' whispers. They looked at him, huddled up in their corners. All of them shut their mouths the moment he passed too near to them, but were quick to talk againand exaggerate their interpretations of him once he was a few feet away. Again, he sighed, he wondered if that was to become a bad habit of his while he stayed at this school.

He made it up to the second floor, made sure that the classrooms had the correct numbering and all that was left now was to find his own classroom. He looked around, took a few hesitant steps forward, but found himself under the gaze of the Shujin students on the halls.

All of them stared at him as if he was about to perform some circus act.

"Is he lost?"

"Why didn't he get lost on the way here? I don't wanna deal with a second thug like Sakamoto."

Shirou frowned at the continued verbal abuses, it was wearing thin on his patience already. And he was someone who had a lot of tolerance from his days as the butt of the joke back in Fuyuki. But this was grinding on his nerves.

' _Don't lose your cool, don't lose your cool, don't lose your cool…'_

He calmed down a little after his little mantra and reminded himself that either showing his frustration or storming off wouldn't help him at all. From the corner of his eye caught sight of a woman that was walking down the hall, he turned to look at her.

She was dressed in a long sleeve yellow stipe-shirt, reminiscent from Fujimura-sensei, a long jean skirt and some simple shoes. Her hair was brown, untamed and fluffy looking, he would go as far as to say that it looked cute. As he looked at her face, he noted that she older than he was, a teacher. Shirou nodded and made his way towards her.

"Excuse me, are you a teacher?" Shirou asked politely, the woman turned towards him with tired eyes.

"Yes?"

"Could you please tell me where classroom 2-E is? I'm kinda of lost…"

"Lost…" The woman repeated and then looked at him from head to toe with narrowed eyes. "How can you be los—oh! You're that new transfer student that everyone's been talking about."

The redhead deflated a little at her words. "Yeah…"

The woman nodded and motioned for him to follow. "So, classroom 2-E huh, that's Ushimaru-san's domain…well I guess a strict hand for someone like you make senses."

"…" The young man winced at her words and looked away. The teacher turned her head towards him and noticed his expression, she sighed.

"If people are talking about you like that, then remember you have no one to blame but yourself for that." She shook her head and said in tired voice. "I'm just glad I won't have to deal with you on my class, I don't think I could handle it…"

"…"

She stopped in front a classroom door and motioned at it for him. "This is it. Listen, I may not be your classroom teacher, but do take this bit of advice, okay?"

Shirou looked at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. "…Okay?"

She nodded. "Try not to associate with a boy named Sakamoto-kun to much. I can tell already you're in very thin ice and that your social life in this school is being drag through the floor. So, keep up coming here on time, be a diligent student and don't associate with bad company. I think that should help you get the other students to lay off you."

The redhead looked at her in surprise, not expecting that. Shirou shook his head and bowed in respect. "Thank you."

The woman nodded. "Good to know you have good head on your shoulders. Good luck."

With that the teacher went on her way and enter the classroom neighboring his own. The young man scratched the back of his head and entered the classroom he had been guided in. Inside many of the seats were filled with chattering students, they stopped and looked at him. All their eyes lightened up in recognition as they went back to their chatters about his person.

Shirou let out another sighed, his earlier irritation manifested again. He turned and saw the sneering frown of his classroom teacher. The man nodded at him as if satisfy that he had made it in time to class.

"Here on time, Emiya? As it should be." Ushimaru then gestured for him to stand in front of the class. The young man obeyed the gesture. "Now introduce yourself to the class."

They all looked at him, many of the front row seated students pulled back, as if they expected for him to blow up and hit them. Some on the back looked excited at the prospect of violence, something to break the norm of the monotony of school life. Every student there waited for him to present his first actions so that they could gossip about him more and demonize him with their exaggerated talk.

Shirou bowed. "I am Emiya Shirou, please take care of me."

Silence was his only responds for a few seconds. Then a groan, and mutters about how he must have faked his words. The redhead stifled in a groan and stood up straight. Behind him he heard Ushimaru hummed.

"Emiya, take the seat in the middle of the class. That seat hasn't been used in a while now."

Shirou turned to look where he was assigned to and saw two empty seats, the one his teacher had ordered him to take and another one to the right one seat ahead of where he was. The redhead nodded, walked towards his seat, and sat down. He took out his books and got ready for his day.

Of course, he tried his hardest to ignored the ongoing gossip of the students around him.

"Okay, then let us start the clas—!" Ushimaru started, but was interrupted when the classroom's door slid opened and a young man with blond hair, a yellow shirt with a 'ZOMG' sign beneath his school blazer strolled in with frown on his face. "Sakamoto-san, still not getting rid of that bad habit of yours? Always need to come in and interrupt me in mid-sentence?"

'Sakamoto…' Shirou thought as he looked at the young man who looked down with a tight expression and kicked off dust from the ground lightly. This was the suppose other delinquent people had compared him to and told to avoid?

Sakamoto sniffed. "Sorry."

"Take your seat, I don't have to deal with you!" The teacher waved him off and turned his back toward the student as he went to work on the blackboard. Sakamoto ducked his head and took his seat, he rested his head on his hand as he slouched forward.

"And the two delinquents are here…"

"Ah…man, why did it have to be our class…"

"I hope they don't get together…"

The whispers of his classmates returned and Shirou groaned lightly at their continued gossiping.

This was going to be a long school date—no, it was just going to be a long school year…he knew that for a fact.

.

.

.

.

_4/8 Lunchtime_

Shirou sighed once more, his jaw sore from all the times he had repeated the action during class.

Classes could've been worse in his opinion. He had been the butt of every single whisper during class, all of them associated him with Sakamoto. He had been picked on by the teachers that had come through the different periods as they always singled him out and asked a question that pertained to the class. He should've been more attentive of what was being discussed instead of being distracted by the whispers and exaggerations over what he had done.

Because of those distractions, he had gotten most of the answers asked wrong and was mocked by the class. So, when they had entered recess and were given leave to eat their lunch, he was greeted by Mr. Ushimaru—who had taken pity on him.

"You are an idiot Emiya." Ushimaru's pity made the redhead wince as the man looked at him with a sour expression. "Simple questions, all of them. And you failed to answer them? Humph, I don't know why I was expecting so much out of a punk like you. But, I have already an idiot in my class to handle and I certainly don't need a second! So, you better go up to the library and start reading about all the subjects discuss in my class! Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." Shirou answered demurely as he looked off to the side.

The teacher nodded, he turned around and scoffed. "To believe that the future of this country will be left to kids like you…I truly dread the direction this country is heading."

The old teacher left him as he complained all the way. Shirou just stared at him numbly before he shook his head and walked on the opposite direction.

' _Where is the library though?'_  He had wondered as he walked aimlessly on the floor he was in with the noise of spreading rumors as his background music. He found it scary how he started to become accustom to that fact so quickly.

Still he tried to navigate the halls and find where the library was, all the while he tried to put off asking for help. The students were far too busy with their own business or gossip, and he didn't want for more rumors to spread about him. He sighed once more, looked up and froze as he realized something important.

He blinked a couple of times and groaned—he was lost.

He wasn't even in the same part of the building as before. He looked around and noted that a lot of signs on the classrooms door indicated for club activities. He groaned again and shook his head dismay.

"Maybe…the library is here…somewhere…?" He asked himself unsurely and walked down the hall. He didn't pay any attention to the whispers as he explored the school. He had learned his lesson to that matter, he should've heed the words of the girl from yesterday and just ignore what everyone said. It would've saved him from that piece of chalk to the forehead and all those failed answers he gave out.

He frowned as he thought back to the girl who had been nice to him yesterday. He wondered if she was doing okay…that face she made when that teacher touched her was scarily like—!

"So, what you are saying is that you can't fix the air conditioner in my office." A familiar voice said in clear disappointment, with hints of irritation present.

Shirou looked up and blinked in shock as the girl he had thought back off, was there. Suzui had the same down expression and demure stance, besides her was a student dressed in the red gym outfit of the school with a bandage over his depressed face. They stood behind the man who had dragged her off yesterday. He stood tall with his hands on his hips as he shook his head and looked back at the slide-opened door of the office.

Three students stood before the man and a brown hair female student, one dressed differently from the rest of her female classmates, stepped forward and bowed apologetically.

"I'm sorry Kamoshida-san, but the Student Council doesn't have anyone available with that kind of skill. Haven't you told the Faculty Office of this?"

"I have, but they have told me to wait until tomorrow so they can get someone to fix this." Kamoshida said as he scratched his head in frustration. "I had thought that the Student Council could've helped, but I see I was mistaken."

The brown hair student winced and looked back at her companions, who shrugged apologetically. She then looked back at the teacher.

"Please understand that while we have the tools for it, we don't have anyone with that level of proficiency on the Council."

Kamoshida crossed his arms and frown. "Tsk. I will suffocate inside that office without that air conditioner, if not that I'll be all sweaty and uncomfortable…ugh, I just know this will leave me in a bad mood for the rest of the day…"

Shirou saw it clearly, the winced on Suzui's face, the way she looked down, how her body shook as those words were muttered. It was subtle, but it was there, the same with the boy that stood beside her.

Those actions, they reminded him of…

" _Onii-chan…I'm sorry…!"_

A surge of emotion filled him as those words echoed deep within him and he took a determine step towards where that girl was.

This feeling, it was the very same feeling he had felt when Illya had been harassed. An overflowing feeling of protectiveness…but, much less violent like the one he had been hit with back in Fuyuki. This one felt much more genuine to him, much less fierce—in fact, there was a lack of that tiny voice in the back of his head that told him—

_Don't let them touch her, don't hold back, and beat them down until they are on the ground red and bruise._

The voice that he had heard back then was absent, that fact made him hesitate in his advancement forward.

Why was it different? Was it because the girl in front of him was literally an unknown to him as opposed to the little girl he had grown up with? Was it because he didn't understand the situation of why that girl would act like that? From what he heard of the man through the student's gossip was nothing but good things…so why…?

He shook his head, that wasn't why he had decided to intervene—not really. He wanted to intervene because of that expression on Suzui's face. So, what if the feelings he felt weren't the sudden and unnatural burst of anger he felt before?

If the only person who had somehow brought a smile to his face yesterday looked so down when her teacher was apparently going to be in a bad mood for the rest of the day…then he couldn't simply just stand there and not try to alleviate that girl's downtrodden face.

"I know how to fix it." Shirou stated firmly as he stepped into the conversation uninvited. Suzui looked up and her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized him. Everyone else looked at him in surprised at his sudden appearance.

Kamoshida's face contorted down into a frown. "You again…what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be eating your lunch?"

The redhead shook his head, his eyes sneaked a look toward the surprise dark hair girl. "I took the opportunity to explore the school, ended up getting lost and heard you had trouble with your air conditioner. I can fix it."

The brown hair girl looked at him with her red eyes curiously. "That is surprising…I thought that someone with such skill would've been more known in the school, there are many equipment that need fixing."

One of the students that accompanied the brown hair student leaned and whispered. "Niijima-san he's that new transfer student, the one who broke a student's jaw."

At that the brown hair girl, Niijima, looked back at him with narrow eyes. "Oh…"

Kamoshida shook his head and looked down on him. "I'm most probably guessing here, but I can safely bet that principal Kobayakawa has already warned you of what would happen should you step out of line. And this eavesdropping of yours isn't exactly going to help your case."

Shirou met the man's gaze. "I already know of the consequences. But that doesn't have anything to do with me being capable of fixing your problem."

The tall teacher narrowed his eyes at his word, leaned back on his left foot and crossed his arms. "So, you say you can fix the air conditioner…?"

"Back at my old school I tended to tinker and fix old equipment, it became a hobby." The redhead revealed easily. Niijima beside him shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Be as that may be, you don't need to concern yourself with such things, Emiya-san. This is a matter of the school and of the Student Council. Please go, enjoy your lunch, and focus on your studies." She narrowed her eyes. "And do try to avoid getting or causing any trouble."

Shirou's eyes twitched slightly at the dismissal, especially when he noticed the girl who brought a smile to his face cringe a little. She looked at him with questions in her eyes and he prepared to make his case again—!

"Wait!" Kamoshida said as he raised a hand as if to command everyone's attention to him. "I think this would be good."

Niijima blinked in surprise. "How so Kamoshida-san?"

"Emiya-san…he is quite the trouble kid, isn't he? Beating up fellow students, going as far as to break someone's jaw in the process of his violent actions. His actions were in fact so bad that he was use on the news as an example, a way to show the future leaders of this country how not to behave in school."

Shirou tried to hide the wince, but everyone noticed. Kamoshida pressed on with his words. "He may have avoided getting a criminal record, but still doesn't mean he is above being treated like a criminal. Someone like him still needs rehabilitation for his actions, and what better way than to see if he can actually contribute to our school. So, I say let him try and fix the air conditioner."

Niijima furrowed her brow at his words. "I guess…but would you trust him so easily to be inside your office?"

Kamoshida chuckled and gave a big, wide grin. "I  _trust_  him not to do anything that could get him expel. After all, if I notice a missing item on my office then you won't be seeing this boy tomorrow, I can assure you off that. And…if he can't fix the air conditioner, then that's on him. It just means that he can't be trusted and is wasting the potential that is Shujin Academy. He is the one who must prove himself, the odds are task against him here."

"…you've given this much thought, havne't you Kamoshida-san?" Niijima asked as she leaned back.

"I wouldn't say that…I just saw an opportunity, that's all." The man turned towards Shirou once more and looked down on him. "This school is one where those with aspiration to succeed come. Someone like you, who has thrown those aspiration out of the window the moment you decided to fight, only must do something to make up for that. But of course, if you wish to back down, you can. After all, the only person here who has everything to lose here, is you."

Shirou felt everyone stared at him, as if they expected him to back down. The only one who didn't stare at him like that was the dark hair girl, her brown eyes focused on him curiously. At that moment he decided, that he wasn't the only one with something to lose.

He straightened his back and looked back at the teacher. "I'll need some tools to get to work."

The teacher looked somewhat surprised and nodded at his words.

"Well if that's the case, then I'm off to enjoy some lunch." Kamoshida then leaned down on his face. "Don't do anything that could jeopardize your stay here, understand? What I said yesterday still stands."

"…" Shirou stared at the man square in the face and did not back up. Beside Suzui, the bandaged boy looked around nervously and walked away. He shuffled passed Kamoshida, the man's eyes relented their unwavering gaze from his and stared at the bandaged boy.

"Eh, eh, eh, eh. You stay right here."

The boy looked at him in surprise. "B-But sir…"

"No, even though Emiya-san may already know of the consequence's, I still need someone to keep an eye on him. Okay?" Kamoshida pressed on as the bandaged boy wilted in place. "I am putting a lot of trust of you here."

The boy nodded and Kamoshida walked away. Niijima looked at the retreating teacher, then motioned for her two companions. "Go and bring the toolbox here."

The two students nodded in agreement and went to look for it, Niijima looked at him with narrowed eyes. She then sighed and nodded. "I can appreciate that you are trying to appear reliable and that you are taking your unofficial 'rehabilitation' seriously."

"…" Shirou looked at her in silence. The brown hair student stared right back him and leaned back slightly.

"I hope for your sake that you can fix that piece of equipment, as it will help you on the long run." She said and then narrowed her eyes once more. "Though, keep in mind what  _I_ said still stands as well. Don't cause any problems…and don't sneak into conversations like that. Not only is it rude, but it won't help you at all with the rumors spread everywhere. Okay?"

The redhead bowed respectfully. "I understand."

A minute later the students came back with the mentioned toolbox and the Council students left. Shirou grabbed the box and moved towards the office, the bandaged boy looked down as he passed by and entered—!

"Why did you do that?" Suzui's voice came from behind and he turned around to look at her. She looked at him questionably.

Shirou blinked a couple of times. "Did what?"

"Why offer your services like that? There really was no reason for to get involved." She said as she stared directly into his eyes, the bandaged boy beside her gazed up a little to, curious.

The redhead scratched the back of his head and blushed a little. Should he be honest? Should he tell her that it was because of her down expression and the way she winced? Should he tell her it was because of how that single action brought flashbacks of his own little sister?

Or…

"Because you made me smile." Shirou answered honestly as he turned around and looked up at the air conditioner. Also, it was to hide just how red his face had gotten over his words.

"Eh!?" Suzui's incredulous respond just made him burned even hotter.

"Yesterday was a very bad day…!" Shirou explained quickly, before the awkwardness made him stumbled on his words. "Having to move away from home, my new guardian being a tad too aloof and the school gossiping about me…well it kind of got to me…! And then I saw you looking down and sad when Kamoshida-san said he was going to be in a bad mood and—well, I just couldn't leave you with such an expression on your face."

Silence, the redhead looked down at the toolbox on his hand swallowed thickly. A minute later he heard a soft giggle come from Suzui.

"You're welcome."

Shirou eyes widened and he spun around to face the smiling girl. "No! I mean…no! You don't have to say that! It wasn't me repaying a favor to you or anything…! It was…actually a genuine gesture…"

His words trailed off as he grew even redder, the realization of what he had said made him look down on the floor in embarrassment. Suzui giggled a little at his words.

"No need to be so obstinate over accepting my own genuine satisfaction that my words made you smile." She said simply as she looked at him.

Shirou raised his eyes to meet hers, and after a few moments, he nodded and smiled lightly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Suzui said again with a small smile. She looked up at the equipment he was about to fix and frowned. "Are you sure you can actually fix it? You know that people are just going to keep badmouthing you more if you can't do it, right?"

The redhead followed her gaze, then he looked back at her and nodded in confidence. "It's nothing I can't handle."

She nodded and stepped back. "The I leave you to it…good luck, I hope you can actually fix it."

With that she was gone and Shirou turned towards air conditioner. He pulled a folding chair, set it up, opened the tool box and got to work. Everything around him tune out as he became engrossed in his work.

Thirty minutes later, lunchbreak was almost over and Shirou managed to fix the air conditioner. Five minutes later, a very surprise and happy Kamoshida came into his office accompanied by the bandaged boy who had warned him of the matters and a Council student.

He looked up and raised a hand to test the air, he blinked in shocked. "It's even better than what it was before? The air is actually cooling a lot…"

"…" The redhead wiped his hands, gave the toolbox back to the Council student and looked back at the teacher.

"Hmm, I'll have to admit I'm surprise that you actually did it…I thought you were just bluffing…" Kamoshida admitted as he turned to regard the young man. "I guess you are someone who can fulfill a certain role in this school. It is not an aspiration anyone would strive for, but seeing as you dashed away any chance you had to pursue whatever dream you wanted to chase, you can actually call this your calling."

"…" Shirou stared at the man as he approached him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. Kamoshida looked directly at his eyes.

"Not everybody catches what they want, but society certainly needs people with good talent as this. A man who knows how alleviate the annoyances of a malfunctioning equipment in this day and age is certainly good." The man grinned at him, but his eyes still held some disdain in them as he locked his gaze with Shirou's own. "You should consider yourself lucky to have such talent, it means that you have an opportunity to complete your own proper rehabilitation."

"…yes." The redhead responded lightly as the grip on his shoulder tightened. The teacher nodded in satisfaction and lead him outside of the office.

"Good, now best be on your way. Lunchbreak is almost over, it would make me feel horrible to know you would go on suffering hunger for this. Now go and enjoy your meal." Kamoshida patted him on the back and waved him off as Shirou walked off. He looked back as the man crossed his arms and looked at him. The bandaged boy shuffled off quickly, while the Council student praised the teacher and walked away too.

Shirou just sighed and looked down—he had made a good decision.

He had really risked a lot, if he had failed to get the air conditioner functioning he knew how much worse his school life would turn into. But, it was worth it.

A snort to his right caught his attention, he looked up and saw Sakamoto there. The dyed hair blond leaned against the halls wall and had his eyes focused on him, then he looked back to where Kamoshida's office was and back on him. His classmate huffed, shook his head, and walked away.

Shirou blinked a couple of time at the display.

' _What was that about…?'_ He wondered as he watched the blonde disappeared into the crowd of students.

"Oh, did you do it?" A familiar female voice asked from behind, and the redhead jumped a little in surprise. He turned around and saw Suzui with her school bag on her shoulder. She titled her head as he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Uh…did what?"

"Fix the air conditioner of course…did you managed to do it? Or…" She trailed off worriedly as she looked back at Kamoshida's office.

Shirou let a small smile grace his face. "No, it was actually a pretty easy fix. I even got it running better than before."

Suzui looked surprise at that. "Whoa…that's actually very impressive. I guess I was worried for nothing, huh."

"…" The red head frowned at her words lightly. "Why…why were you worried about me?"

"Why? Because if you had failed, you would've gotten even more troubles on your back at every turn…"

"But…I deserved it, don't I?" Shirou questioned her as he looked straight into her eyes. "I did something bad, pretty bad actually…and everyone, except you treats me…like this!"

Shirou gestured between them, his expression confused as he looked at her. Suzui had an expression of surprise at his light outburst before she giggled and stared straight at him.

"I told you yesterday that I'm not a fan of rumors, you know?"

"But they're not rumors…! What I did was re—!"

"And…!" She cut him off sharply and abruptly. "I also said that I don't judge people. Especially since we bump into each other, you haven't given me a reason to treat you like some common thug."

"…I haven't given you a reason?" Shirou asked as he tilted his head to the side, curiosity overcame his own confusion as to what she meant. Suzui raised an eyebrow at his response and took a deep breath.

"When we bump into each other yesterday, you apologized to me when you really didn't have to do so. You went even as far as to take the blame for such a small and dumb accident. And that's what I meant when I said you didn't give me any reason to treat you badly. Because if you were just that delinquent that everyone online commented about him being a dangerous bully who beats on people or the thug who somehow made it to the news and got made an example of how students shouldn't behave, then you would've screamed at me or just ignored me."

"…" He just stared at her, his expression one of surprise.

Suzui gave a small smile, her eyes shined brightly as she continued. "But you didn't do any of that. And for me, that's enough to know not to judge someone. I don't know why you did what you did, but someone who apologized for something so dumb and would go out of his way to risk his already fragile and bad reputation just because he saw some girl looking sad is a good person in my books."

"…" Shirou stared at her with an incredulous face, he blinked a couple of times and then looked down as the words the girl before him uttered settled in. Those words made him feel…

Happy? Proud? Completely embarrassed? It was like a flourished of positive emotions welled up in him…

He hadn't felt like that since after the incident, and that was weeks ago. There was no way for him to find himself to feel anything like that when faced with everything that had happened. All he had felt during those weeks and before this very moment was nothing but guilt. It felt like that feeling chained him down and dragged him down and steadily towards a dark abyss.

And yet this girl had somehow managed to alleviate that.

The dark hair girls smiled wilted a little, but her eyes remained bright. "What you did today actually was good…when Kamoshida-sensei mentioned he was going to be in a bad mood, I was actually scare…"

Shirou's positivity diminished at her words. "Why would you be scare?"

She looked away and sighed. "…Kamoshida-sensei is a nationalist volleyball player who managed to bring gold to Japan. So…he's volleyball practices are already quite tough to deal with…but when he is in a bad mood…it can get rough…"

Golden brown eyes locked onto the girls bruised cheek, and the young man's eyes widened as he remembered the bandaged student who stayed to keep an eye on him. "Oh…"

"Yes, but you managed to save us from going through that…I, I really appreciate that." Suzui said firmly and bowed. Shirou took a step back and shook his head rapidly at her actions.

"Please, you really don't nee—uh!" He stopped talking when he realized that his stomach growled rather loudly, he's face burned red. Suzui looked up in shock at the loud sound, noticed his red face and then giggled at him.

"Well, you were indeed working for most of lunchbreak, huh." Suzui said simply, she turned slightly toward her bag, rummaged inside, and pulled out a bento box filled with food. She handed it to him. "Here."

He blinked as he took the box and looked at it. "Huh…its half-eaten?"

"Yeah, I couldn't finish it. I told you I was worried that you wouldn't finish fixing the air conditioner. So, I do hope you enjoy it!"

Shirou's face turned even redder at her words and his grip on the bento box shook. "Y-Y-You couldn't finish it? Wait…this is yours!?"

The girl just nodded at his words. "Hmmhmm, I actually prepared it myself."

Was it even possible to be any redder? Was it possible to die from embarrassment? Because he felt his knees go a little bit wobbly as his heart nearly tore itself out of his chest.

"I-I-I-I can't accept this! This is—! Like—! No way! This is way to personal!" Shirou stammered as he looked at the girl in disbelief." I mean…it's made by you—and, well, I just…isn't this something that coup—!"

He clamped his mouth shut before the words 'couples' left his mouth. He just looked down in mortification. But the sound of Suzui's giggling made him look up. She looked at him with closed as she held onto her schoolbag.

"You're pretty embarrass over this." She tilted her head to the side and looked down on the bento box with pursed lips. "Let's see, how can I make you take the lunch without feeling embarrass…well, just take it as thank you."

"A thank you?"

Suzui nodded as she stared straight into his eyes. "Yes, like I told you before, you offering to fix that air conditioner will make our…practices, easier. So, thank you."

Shirou look down at the bento box with and then back at her grateful expression, he smiled at her.

"You're welcome."

She smiled at his response. "Well, best I get going and leave you to enjoy lunch. Until next time."

With that she turned around and walked away, Shirou remained where he was and looked down at the lunch in his hands. He felt his heart throb at the sight of the lunch.

"Oh, I completely forgot." Suzui's voice drew his attention back towards the girl.

"Huh?"

The dark hair girl smiled at him. "My name is Suzui Shiho, it's nice to meet you."

Shirou stared at her blankly for a second, before as small smile crossed his lips. "I'm Emiya Shirou, likewise."

The girl waved at him and finally went on her way. Shirou stared at her back until she disappeared when she turned and went up the stairs. He stared back at the bento box in his hands and nodded to himself. He heard the students around him whisper among themselves about him, but he ignored them.

A few minutes later, Shirou found a quiet corner where he could eat the lunch gifted to him in peace. When he took a bite of the food, he found the taste to be a little bland, but the smiled and good mood he felt that half-eaten lunch brought him made him appreciate the meal even more.

Throughout the day after lunch, he managed to ignore the students around him as his good mood carried him through.

Even when he returned to the empty and silent apartment, he managed to remain in high spirits and got some good rest.

For being his first day at school, it wasn't a bad one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The guilt train for Shirou continues! And the school really doesn't help at all, though it seems that he's getting some respite with Shiho here. Well for his first day, it didn't go completely south like with Akira, hm?


	3. Shiho Suzui

The morning sunlight filtered into the empty and dull room.

He opened his glazed over eyes and got up.

He went outside his room and found an empty apartment.

He bathed, washed his teeth and cloth himself in his uniform.

He prepared breakfast, ate, finished, and washed the dishes.

He grabbed the spare keys left to him by Maiya, went ou—!

“Shirou, why have you put your uniform?”

The redhead stopped with one foot out of the apartment, he turned around and looked back in surprise at Maiya. The cold expression on the woman’s face was the same as ever, her eyes locked with his. Shirou squirmed under her gaze and gave her a confuse stare.

“Um—I’m going to school…?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s Sunday, Shirou.”

Golden brown eyes widened at the statement, he looked down as an embarrassed blush creeped onto his cheeks.

“…right.”

Maiya turned away from him. “Today is your free day, go on and do whatever you wish. I have other business to attend to.”

The young man sighed at the response and stepped back into the apartment. He scratched the back of his head, looked around the apartment room. He saw the TV was playing the news, the reporter on screen talked about the homeless people scattered through Shibuya.

“Well, I guess this would be a good opportunity to explore the city.”

_4/10 Morning_

Yesterday had been a rather monotonous school day. He woke up as he was starting to get used to, he went to school, answered the questions asked and then went home. The only things different now was, Sakamoto now tended to glare at him for whatever reason and the rumors had evolved from ‘him being a dangerous bully’ to ‘him sucking up to Kamoshida like Takamaki does’—and he didn’t even know who this Takamaki person was.

But none of those bothered him as he was already use to the bad publicity and could handle it, whether it came from a single individual who was labeled a ‘thug’ like him or from the masses of school. Though, there was one thing that made him leave school sulking and incredibly disappointed—he hadn’t been able to talk with Shiho yesterday.

He had seen her before he left school, but she was so far away and accompanied by a few schoolmates, they were obviously heading towards their volleyball practices and he didn’t want to intrude. It still left him disappointed that he had missed his chance to talk with a friendly face in the hostile school.

But that was yesterday, for now he wanted to focus on exploring Shibuya and learn what activities he could partake in his free days.

And so, he walked among the sea of pedestrians, their faces barely registered into his mind. He got lost a couple of times, but found a few small stores around him. In the Station Square, he found several oddballs, from a man preaching about a ‘sun god’ to reporters who overbearingly interview people. It was all so...odd.

At least there was an honest politician that had said some very wise and honest words.

He made into Central Street and was surrounded by a great variety of shops, from convenient stores, restaurants, book store, rental DVDs, an arcade and even an airsoft store behind said arcade.

By lunchtime he was tired from his walk and hungry. He rubbed his demanding stomach, looked at the Big Bang Burger restaurant and tilted his head.

 _‘I’m not that much of a fan for these types of food, but I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea to eat here…hmm, maybe I should go for takeout and eat on the train, I want to see if it’s true that Akinabara got all that anime merchandise_.’ He thought as he rubbed his chin in wonder. _‘Maiya-san’s apartment could definitely use some decoration…or at least my room, its starting wear on me getting up in that lifeless room…’_

Shirou looked down and sigh. “Ugh…I really missed my old room…Illya was always getting in and gluing all kinds of posters on the walls…”

“Emiya-kun?”

The redhead’s eyes widened in surprise at the female voice and turned back to look behind him. He’s face lightened at the sight of the dark hair girl.

“Suzui-san, ah, I’m surprise to see you here.” Shriou took a good look at her and noticed her attire. She was dressed in the red school gym outfit and the bruise on her cheek was fading slowly. He titled his head at the sight of her clothing. “…uh, why are you wearing your school outfit? I mean today is Sunday…”

Shiho smiled at his words and looked off to the side with a tired look. “It’s for volleyball practice, we have practice on Sundays as well.”

“Oh.” Shirou blinked at her, scratched the back of his head and furrowed his brows in thought. “But even on a Sunday? Don’t you have a day off?”

“Unfortunately, no…” She said in a tired tone. “Kamoshida-sensei takes volleyball practices very seriously…if you can’t meet his standards then you are kicked out of the team at worst…or he punishes the entire team for the fault of any one member.”

The redhead shook his head at her words and looked at the side with narrowed eyes. “That’s way too much. No offence Suzui-san, but you’re just a high school team. Even the archery practices back in Homurahara Academy weren’t like that.”

“Archery…?” She murmured in amazement and looked at him with a tilted head.

“Uh…yeah, I was once a member at my old school, but I left it after getting to busy with school work. I wanted to return, but…” Shirou trailed off as he gestured towards himself, he shook his head and gave Shiho a firm look. “But enough about me, I still think it’s a little too much to make you guys practices all days in the week without a day to relax. That’s abuse.”

Shiho flinched at his words, the young man looked at her with worry when her expression settled into a pained one. Before he had the chance to try and ask her if she was all right, she shook her head and just gave him a force smile.

“Don’t worry about it…it’s just like I told you, the practices are on the n-nationalist level. We can’t complain…we’re—w-we are very fortunate to have a teacher like Kamoshida with us…”

“…” Shirou just stared at her with an incredulous look, he didn’t believe a word that had come out of her mouth—and that fact worried him. It made him feel as if he was missing something and he didn’t know what.

He didn’t like it at all—especially when she looked at him with such a downtrodden expression.

Shiho had caught his look and shook her head. “Please it’s…it’s nothing, really! And anyway, I’ll just get out of your way…I was just looking for some lunch and all I did was disturb your Sunday. I’ll—!”

“Wait!” Shirou called out loudly when the girl took a step back and was ready to turn away from him. Shiho flinched and looked at him in surprise. “I’m sorry, but you’re not a bother, I could never call you that—really, I was just curious, that’s all. If you don’t want me to talk about it, then I won’t.”

If it meant not letting the girl before him looked at him with that pained expression of hers—

_“Onii-chan…I’m sorry…!”_

—Then he would keep his mouth shut…but if he could find a way to help her with whatever problem she was dealing with, he would do his best to help her.

And this time he would make sure—make sure that it didn’t end like last time.

Shiho looked at him in surprise, then gave a small smile and shook her head. “I don’t really want to be bothe—!”  

“Hey back off old man!”

The sudden angry shout made the two teens looked towards their right, they saw a couple and older man in a dark green jacker in front of the bookstore. The older man backed off in surprise, while the young man with the woman firmly grasped his arms glared at the man.

“Ugh, honey! Like get away from him! He’s like a homeless guy and smells disgusting! Like seriously!” The woman screamed dramatically with a shrill voice. The homeless man winced at the words and backed off even more. He gestured towards the Big Bang Burger bag on the younger man’s hands.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m…I’m so very hungry. I only wanted to ask for som—!”

“Humph, as if I’d give you something I worked my ass for. Why don’t you just scavenge a dumpster or something. Com’on babe, let’s get out of here!” The young man said with a sneer and dragged his girlfriend with him.

“Like you better make it up to me honey! That was like, the worst experience ever!”

The homeless man sighed he looked around and saw that the pedestrian on the road all looked at him. They muttered among themselves, Shirou and Shiho heard every word.

“Homeless people, ugh…they’re all spread through the city…”

“Seriously is like they take the streets as if it were they’re home or something.”

“People like them must have done something to disgrace themselves, I mean why would they end up in the streets.”

“Every corner I take I always see those guys in the floor, loitering around, I just wish they would disappear or something…”

Shirou’s fist clenched at the words as the old man wilted to himself, grabbed the tip of his cap and pulled it down to hide his face. Beside him, Shiho felt the man’s embarrassment and frustration from where she stood as the crowd muttered among themselves. Her face gained a steel edge as she looked around at the people with a glare.

The redhead gritted his teeth, looked back at the Big Band Burger restaurant, and stormed towards it. Shiho snapped out of her own anger at the sudden, strong, and angry steps from the redhead.

“U-Uh? Emiya-kun…?” She called out in confusion as he walked into the burger restaurant. He barely paid any mind to her words and she followed him.

Inside the restaurant, the young man stood on the line and waited for his turn to order the food. He tapped his foot impatiently and crossed his arm, Shiho entered the fast-food restaurant and walked towards him. She looked at him with surprise, Shirou looked at her and sighed apologetically.

“I’m sorry for running off like that Suzui-san, it’s just that hearing people talk so callously about that man just…it just triggered something in me.” The redhead shook his head. “Hearing things like that from adults sounds incredibly wrong. Back where I…where I used to live in, Fuyuki, I never really encounter things like that. People here are way too cruel. I just can’t stand it. So, I’ll buy something for that man to eat. It’s the least any decent person would do, right?”

Shiho looked at him in surprised and the young man stared right back at her brown eyes. He gulped loudly as he took in her delicate features, a blushed spread through his face and he looked away in time to see that the line before him had empty out. He went forward for the cash registering woman, brought out his wallet and placed an order for himself and for the homeless man.

“Ah, wait.” The Big Bang Burger employee stopped before she could go and take his order at the sudden call from Shirou, he scratched the back of his head and looked at Shiho. “Do you want anything to eat? You said you were on your lunchbreak, I don’t mind paying.”

The teenage girl’s look of surprise vanished as she heard his words, and morphed into a pleasant smile. “No don’t worry, I’ll buy my own food.”

“Ah, but I really don’t mind—!”

“And I said not to worry, Emiya-kun.” She said with a little bit more force, though her smile was still pleasant. “I’ll buy my own food.”

Shirou frown a little at the words but let it slide. While he didn’t mind paying for her food, he noticed that he didn’t have a lot of money to spend when he checked his wallet.

A few minutes later, both teenagers came out with their bags of food and looked around the streets. Shirou perked up when he saw the homeless man on the alley beside the crepe’s store, the man looked gloomy with his head down in defeat. The redhead went to him with determine steps, two bags of food in his hands, and came to a stop once he was in front of him.

“Hey, sir?”

The man looked up in surprise at the call and stared at him with a wary look. “Yes…?”

Shirou brought one of the bags of food forth and presented it to the older man. “Here’s some food for you sir, I hope you like it.”

“Uh…? W-What? Why?” The incredulous expression on the man’s face made the young man feel sorry for him.

“Because helping someone in need isn’t wrong.”

The simple response made the man looked at Shirou with wide eyes, then he stared at the bag of foods on the young man’s hand. A harsh laughed escaped from the homeless man, he grabbed the bag of food and his eyes glistened a little with tears.

“Ah, it’s been such a long while since anyone has treated me with such kindness young man…I thank you.” The man bowed towards Shirou, he looked at Shiho behind him and nodded as well in a show of gratitude. “Truly I had thought that this world had lost the ability to show kindness, but this is just another lesson to learn…much like the one I learned after having my artist career was crushed and stomped until I could do nothing about it.”

Shiho narrowed her eyes at him as she heard this. “Crushed…? Mister, what happened?”

“Ah…” The man smiled bitterly, he shook his head and looked up at the sky. “I was just a fool…a fool who though that I could make a change. Ah…the only thing I managed to change was my own future as I stepped on the toes of an influential man…but it doesn’t matter now. I won’t bore you with my own sob story. Once more, thank you. Truly, thank you for this kindness. Now off you go, enjoy your meals. A piece of advice, try not to end up like me, you youngster still have your entire lives ahead of you.”

The man retreated further into the alleyway and the two teenagers exited it. The two looked back and saw the man disappeared behind the corner. Shirou looked at Shiho and gestured for her to follow him.

“Come on, let’s get a seat.”

.

.

.

.

“So…why come all the way to Shibuya to get lunch?” Shirou asked from his side of the bench as he gulped a bunch fries down. Shiho looked up at him with her lips around the straw of her drink, she titled her head in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that well…you’re pretty far away from school. You said you were on break, and coming all the way here only to go back towards the school seems like too much of a hassle. So why eat lunch here on Shibuya? I know there are a couple of stores with good food on the way to Shujin.”

The girl looked away and sighed. “I just needed to get away from the school, that’s all.”

“Even if it meant arriving late to your practices? Is that going to get Kamoshida-san in a bad mood?” He asked before he could stop himself, he winced as the girl flinched at his words.

“I’ll deal with it as I get to it…”

Shirou sighed and took another handful of fries. “I’ll shut up now…”

“Uh…! No, please don’t—!” Shiho looked guilty at his admission, but she was cut off by the easy smile on his face.

“Too late.” He said as he shoved the fries on his mouth, his cheeks puffed up comically as he chewed on the food. The dark hair girl stared at him with a raised eyebrow and chuckled at his face.

“Ah, geez, you look so much like Ann when you do that!”

“Hmm?” Shirou hummed at the comment, he swallowed his food and took a drink. “Uh…who’s Ann?”

“My best friend, I’ve known her since middle school…she’s the sweetest thing ever. I don’t know if she got like that because she’s naturally like that, or if it’s from all the sweets she eats. Haha, she’s got a body to kill for, you know? But I’ve never even seen her go to the gym or even do a single sit-up or squat from all the time I’ve known her. I seriously have wondered how she hasn’t gotten fat or how her teeth are still so white with all the crepes and cakes she stuffs down her gullet.” Her words somewhat harsh, but the fond tone and the smile on her face spoke a different tune.

“She sounds like she lucked out in the genetics department if that’s the case…” Shirou said with a small smile, Shiho let out a laugh at his words. He chuckled as her good humor was somewhat infectious.

The laughter died down and the smile vanished from Shiho’s face slowly as a dark frown marred her face. “She really doesn’t deserve all the rumors people spread about, it isn’t fair to her…and it legitimately makes me mad. She’s gotten better over not letting what people say get to her, but I know it still affects her…”

The redhead frown at that. “Seriously…? This school is so immature, Homurahara wasn’t like this.”

The girl hummed. “I bet you’ve heard the name Takamaki, right? That’s Ann family name…”

“Oh! Yeah…people were saying that I was like her, sucking up to Kamoshida after apparently the entire thing of me helping out with his air conditioner…though, I’ve heard some pretty mean things too.” Shirou shook his head and looked off to the side.

“They treat her badly just because she’s different…she’s a quarter American and they treat her like some exotic object. Girls are jealous of her and talk behind her back about how much of a slut she is. And the boys all talk about how easy she is…”

“Hrm…” Shirou grunted, he looked as the girl before him frown and glared down at her food.

“But the worse rumor of all is the new one that started spreading recently. People are now talking about how she and Kamoshida-sensei are a thing, how she’s…trying to get better grades by going out with him…it’s infuriating.”

“…” He stayed silent, not really knowing what to say or do as the girl talked. He decided that it was better to be silent, if he talked he knew that she would clamped up and would hold all her feelings bottled in. He had dealt with this before, he knew what would happen if the dam was held to tightly without release—

_“Onii-chan…”_

—so, he would let her bent, even if she probably didn’t realize what she was doing.

“Her tolerance is being beat down, she won’t say anything to me…she won’t admit it—but she’s getting frustrated and I can tell…” Shiho’s frown vanished and she looked defeated and upset. “I can’t do anything to help her…my practices have been getting in the way and keeping me away from her, I can’t tell if Kamoshida is doing it on purpose or not, but I can’t be there for her…but I can’t miss my volleyball practices either. Humph, I think I’ve talked to you more times that I have with Ann in the last week, and thinking that makes me really miss her. And it’s, it’s just starting to wear on me too. I want to be there for her, but…!”

“Are the volleyball practices really that important?” Shirou broke his silence as he noticed the distress from the girl. She shook her head, then nodded and then hunched over.

“They are…they…volleyball…volleyball is all I’m good for…so I can’t miss practice…otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?” Shirou pushed with a bland expression, though his hands were clenched tightly.

“…I’m worthless…I’m just good at volleyball…”

Something in those words ignited a small flame in Shirou. His mouth moved before his brain could even catch up and comprehend what was happening, his eyes were sharp and bright with determination as he conveyed his message with absolute honesty.

“You’re not just good at volleyball.”

His words made her looked up at him with frown, her eyes narrowed as she gave him an unintentional glare. She leaned forward and looked at him straight into his eyes, pent up frustration flowed out of her freely now that the dam was broken.

“And what would you know! You don’t even know me!”    

Her harsh words would make anyone flinched, as they came from such a soft spoken and gentle looking girl. Shiho herself flinched when her words spilled out of her mouth like venom. The realization of her actions and words made her draw back. She wilted on herself as she winced.

Shirou remained stony face though, he didn’t react to her words other than to look at her and leaned forward and stared at her. He knew he needed to act quickly as she was closing herself off.

“You’re right.”

Shiho recoiled at his words and began to grab her bags of food. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that…! I…I just got carry away, please forgive me…I won’t bother you agai—!”

She stopped when he placed one of his big hands on her own smaller, yet firm and callous strong ones. Shiho blushed a little at the contact, in both surprise and at the intimate action. She looked up at him and he still stared at her with the same fierce and determine expression.

“You’re not just good at volleyball.” He repeated once more, then he backed off as he tried to find the correct words to use. “And you’re not worthless at all…you’re…you’re a good friend…”

“…” Shiho stared at him in surprise, Shirou scratched the back of his head as his fierce and determine stance crumbled away into a light blush on his cheeks as his words poured out of his mouth.

“I mean, I know it sounds pretentious of me to be calling you a friend since we’ve known each other for all of three days really…but I can’t help but think of you like that. When I told you that day that you made me smile and that it meant a lot to me, I wasn’t lying. I…well I hadn’t smiled for weeks since the accident that landed me here. And I think I even forgot how to smile while everything around me was crumbling…but then you came and made me do it without even trying. I know, I know, it sounds dumb and it sounds so corny when I say it like that…but…”

_"O-Onii-chan…! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

_"It's a-all my f-fault! I-I…!"_

_"It's because of me that you can't go to school…isn't it?"_

_"…Sella-Onee-chan is always glaring at you because I made you do that…I'm sorry…"_

_"…mama should be punishing me…not you O-Onii-chan…"_

_"I shouldn't be calling you Onii-chan…should I… i-it's because of me that I ruined your life…!"_

Shirou frowned at the memories and sighed. He looked at an expecting Shiho, his words had soothed away her negative feeling slightly and now she was more curious than anything about where he was trying to go with his words.

 _‘Even I don’t know where the hell I’m going with this, but…I don’t think there’s any need to hold back, this girl…she’s already poured out her own problems to me. Accidentally or not, it’s only fair that I don’t hide this from her…and maybe I can make a point with this.’_ He nodded to himself as it did in fact seem fair to tell her the full story of his situation.

Deep down, a part of him that didn’t want to admit it, he just wanted to pour out his bottled-up frustrations.

So, he just let the dam he had built since the accident he caused break.

“You know…in the videos of me beating up those guys, there was a little girl there? A girl with white hair, wide red yes and…and crying?”

“Yes…?” Shiho answered uncertainly, Shirou nodded at her words.

“Well, that girl was—is my little sister.”

“Little sister…? But she doesn’t look anything like yo—!” She cut herself off and recoiled at how disrespectful her words were. The redhead smiled at her and waved her off.

“Yeah, her name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, Illya for short. She really doesn’t like calling her by her full name, it always makes her think she’s going to get scolded. And I’m adopted, I don’t remember much from what happened to me before I got adopted. All I know is that my old home crumbled, some construction oversite or something, and my original family died while I survived.”

“Oh my god…! Shirou I’m—!” Shiho looked horrified and she leaned in to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. He just smiled at her, she probably didn’t even notice how she had said his name so brazenly. Still, he patted her hand in comfort for her sake, as her distraught expression made him uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry about it, that was ten years ago. I don’t remember anything from my original family, but I was saved by my adopted dad, Kiritsugu. I accepted being adopted by him and my mom, Irisviel. I got introduce to the two ‘maids’ of the family, Liz and Sella, but their more family than just maids. And then I got introduce to Illya, back then she was so small and so…vulnerable. She stared right at me with those eyes of hers and I just knew that I couldn’t let her ever get hurt.”

“Shirou…”

He smiled and continued. “I remember dad telling me when him and mom introduced me to my new sister, ‘boys who make a girl cry will end in ruin’, I understood immediately what he meant back then and I took those words to heart. I wanted nothing more than make sure she never cried, or if she did cry, I could make them go away quickly. That was what I had told myself that I would do for that little girl—as her older brother, it was my job to alleviate whatever grievances she could ever have. I was clumsy, I screwed up a lot through the years, but I never failed to make her smile…”

At this he looked and tightened his fist, Shiho looked at him with sympathy.

“But I screwed up big time…what brought me here to this city…that had to be my biggest and stupidest mistake that I’ve ever made…”

“What happened? Was your little sister in danger? Was that why you got into that fight?” Shiho asked him gently and he nodded simply.

“She had arrived much earlier than usual to my school…always trying her best to get there in time so that we could live together for home…but this time she was at her earliest. When I had gotten out of the building, I saw her by the entrance, she was waving at me and telling me to hurry up…but, ugh, a couple of my classmates who were near her began to bother her, to harass her…”

“…” The girl inhale deeply and let the air escape her as she heard this.

“No one…no one seemed to be paying attention…and one of them grabbed her by her skirt, pulled her back…grabbed her by the arms, pulled on her hair and…grabbed her chest…I still remember her looking completely terrified at that. By the time it got to that point, I was running towards her, when she screamed my name…I just, everything turned blurry and—!”

_He stared down at his own bloodied hands and did not flinch._

_He stared down at the three beaten down students, bleeding and bruising and did not flinch._

_He stared down at the blue haired student he had once call a friend, the very same student whose jaw was dislodged and teeth scattered on the floor and did **not**  flinch._

_He stared down at the horrified crowd of students and parents as they pointed fingers at him and as a mother of one of the down student swore revenge on him… **and he did not flinch**._

_He stared down at the horrified and guilt filled expression on Illya's expression, her big red round eyes brimmed with tears, her small body shook with nothing but guilt for something she should've not blamed herself with and…_

_… he looked away…_

“Emiya-kun? Are you all right?” Shiho’s concerned voice reeled him back into reality and he turned towards her with a confuse look. “You don’t have to keep going if—!”

“No, no, its fine, just going back into memory lane.” Shirou sighed and leaned back, he stared at the cloudy afternoon sky. “Anyway, everyone saw what had happened. They caught it in video, parents there were horrified and I got into huge trouble since the fight was on the school grounds. I got awfully close to getting a criminal record since I was sued by one of the parents. Dad and mom pulled in some favors, apparently, to not let that happen and the case was drop. But it didn’t matter, as a day after the fight the videos of my fight got brought up on the news and I was used as an example of what student shouldn’t be…it didn’t matter if I didn’t get a criminal record, I was already labeled as pariah.”

“That’s unfair, did no one see that you were protecting your sister!?” Shiho’s outraged made him look at her in surprise, he then shook his head and looked back up at the sky.

“No…it was weird how no one mentioned it, but most of the video was just of the fight and people actually began paying attention to what was happening by the time I threw the first punch. But…weirdly enough, I never cared much about that…I was more horrified by the fact that Illya blamed herself and that she wouldn’t stop crying…”

“So, she blamed herself for that…? That’s so wrong…it isn’t fair, to neither of you!”

“It didn’t matter, Illya was crying because of me and I couldn’t do anything to change it, no matter how hard I tried. She would always just pull back and keep on blaming herself whenever I tried to approach her…and when I tried to keep my distance at mom’s advice and Sella’s scolding, she just got worse since she thought I was blaming her…I…”

“Emiya-kun, it’s not your fault you know that, right?” The dark hair girl comforted as she leaned forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Shirou shrugged at her words and shook his head, his eyes started to regain some steel to them. “Whether it was my or not, it didn’t change the fact that I failed at what I had promised myself to do…but that wasn’t why I told you all of this, I was trying to make a point…”

“A point?” The girl asked, she blinked a couple of times in confusion. “What point were you trying to make?”

“Uh…the point of what I was telling you is…uh…” Shirou sat up straight and then looked at her with an embarrassed blush on his face. “Oh…I guess I don’t have much of a point.”

Shiho looked at him with a bewildered look for a few moments, Shirou’s face burned even redder as she stared him down and he duck his head. Then, Shiho laughed loudly and wholeheartedly.

“R-Really? You weren’t kidding when you said you were clumsy uh?”

“H-Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!?” Shirou asked indignantly, his face turned a few shades redder at her words. “I was trying to come up with a point to help you, but you didn’t need to throw it back at face like that!”

“I actually thought that after all of that heavy and sad backstory you were going to come up with this inspirational speech or something!” Shiho said in good humor, a smile on her face. “But you just fell completely flat on your face with that! It actually managed to kill the mood you build up!”

“Ugh…!” Shirou shifted away from her and crossed his arms, a grimaced on his face as his ears burned. The girl’s laugh subsided and looked at him with a genuine and bright smile.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to mock you like that. It was just so…underwhelming after all of that.”

“There’s no need to keep rubbing it on my face, you know?”

The girl giggled a little at his embarrassment, she leaned back on her side of the bench and looked up at the sky. “I think that in the end what we wanted was just to express our frustrations with all our problems. I bet you didn’t have anyone to talk too right?”

“Yeah.” Shirou nodded as he looked numbly at the sky. “It wasn’t that no one payed any mind to me or that they didn’t want to listen to me…it was just tough trying to talk about something everyone knew of. So, I just kept quiet.” 

Shiho hummed at his words. “I kind of got carried away when we started talking, didn’t I? But, I just never got the chance to talk with Ann about my own grievances, I don’t want to bother her with my problems…and now that I think about it, neither does she. She always hides her problems behind a smile…something that she must have picked up from the old me, now that I think about it. The difference now is…is that I hide my problems by worrying about the issues of others.”

Shirou looked away from the sky and down at her, she did the same when she felt his stare. The young man narrowed his eyes and looked at her resolutely.

“I think I found my point.”

“Oh? It took a little while, but there’s no need, really.” Shiho waved him off and looked away. “I’ll try and—!”

“Suzui-san.”

She stopped, surprise by the determine way he said her name. She stared at his eyes with slightly widened eyes. He leaned towards her, placed a hand on her shoulder and stared right back at her.

“I miss my family back home, I miss those embarrassing moments, I miss being the butt of mom’s jokes…but I especially miss Illya. You’re not just good at volleyball and you’re not worthless without it. I don’t know what volleyball means to you, and I don’t know where you got the idea that all you’re good for is just some sport, but don’t put the sport before your friend. Trust me, it’s only been a few days but I already miss home.”

Shiho looked at his earnest expression for a moment, then she stared at the floor. She sighed and shook her head.

“I know that I shouldn’t be taking a sport over my friendship like that…especially since I’m certain that Kamoshida is purposely taking any free time I have so that I can’t be with Ann…but my parents—!”

“What do you want to do?”

“—!” Her eyes went wide at the simple question and she squirmed a little. “I…”

“Because from the way I understand, what you really want is to help Ann out with her problems, to help her not fall for the pressure of all those immature rumors…and for her to do the same for you, huh?”

Shiho looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Hrm, are you naturally this good at reading people? Or did I let slip more than what I wanted to say earlier?”

The redhead gave her a small smile. “I have a little sister, I’m use to this kind of talk. And I’ve picked up a trick or two.”

The dark hair girl snorted at his words and laugh a little. “I don’t know how to feel about that…being compared to a little girl. Well, with how I’m acting, it would fit me.”

“Please don’t ruin my point…” Shirou whined lightly as he sent a light glare to the smiling girl.

“Don’t worry about it, I won’t.” She assured him and looked up. “I guess, I was just hesitant to do something…like I told you, volleyball practices are incredibly tough and…very rough. If you don’t have your focus on things, then Kamoshida isn’t afraid from cutting you off. My problem is…well, my problem is that I’m good at the sport and he wants me constantly to give more and more of myself…my parents are worry about how though practices are, but they aren’t exactly telling me to pull back.”

“Hrm…”

“…at the end of the day, I think the reason I push myself forward so much is because of Ann.”

“Huh, why?”

“Because…because she knows how much I love the sport. Because she knows of that little dream I once told her when we were little…she’s always there encouraging me to keep going. Whenever I feel down, she’s always there to pick me up.” She looked at Shirou and smiled sadly. “But, Emiya-kun, I’ll take your words about not putting my sport before Ann to heart. I had made the mistake of pushing Ann back and not noticing her problems before it was too late…but I will try and fix that, I know she will appreciate that.”

The redhead smiled at her words and nodded. “Yeah…”

“I really need to introduce you two…” She muttered to herself and Shirou looked at her questionably, she noticed the look and smiled. “You and Ann, I know for a fact that you’ll like her. She’s like this hyperactive bundle sugar that you can’t help but love.”

“Ha, I bet I will like her then.” Shirou answered with a smile as memories of Illya filtered in, memories from before the accident.

Shiho nodded, happy at the admission. “Yeah, but that will have to come after I have my talk with her. I think we’ll have a lot to catch up to and I want to make sure she’s all right. It may take few days since volleyball practices will get in the way, of that I’m sure. But, I know it will be worth it.”

“Of course.”

Shiho nodded at him, she took out her phone and looked at it. Suddenly she jumped up and startled the young man.

“Oh no! I’ll arrive late to school if I keep sitting here! I need to go! Sorry Emiya-kun!” She said rapidly, took her soda and bag of food and ran towards the direction of the train station.

Shirou could only blinked in amazement at her and stood up. “Be careful Suzui-san!”

The girl waved back at him, froze as her eyes widened and then turned back towards him. The young man looked at her in confusion as she took her phone out and ran up towards him.

“I totally forgot! Give me your contact info! I really would like to keep in touch with you! And also…” She looked down with a fond smile. “I’ll need your number so that we can set up your introduction to Ann.”

Shirou let out a small chuckle and nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

The two exchange their contact numbers, once done the girl was off.

“Take care Emiya-kun! Enjoy your Sunday!” She said as she ran off, she disappeared through the crowd.

“Yeah…you too.” Shirou said softly as he looked down at the new number on his phone. He smiled, scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and went the opposite way from the girl.

When he returned to the empty apartment, he prepared his dinner and sat down. He watched the news as he ate, about some detective prince that apprehended some criminals and of some prosecutor woman who was becoming famous now. He paid no mind to that, as he stared at the number on his phone.

The broadcasted news off a train derailment that lead to Akinabara and all the people that were injured chilled him to the bone.

_‘I could’ve been there…!’_

He looked at the number of Shiho on his phone and sighed as the news of the derailment passed.

Even if it was unintentional, that girl saved him from that…

He smiled and went to bed once he finished everything, he looked at the ceiling.

“I hope everything goes well with Takamaki-san, Suzui-san…”

He closed his eyes and dreamed.

_"I've been a bad sister…" The small girl declared with tears streaming down her face, her expression broken and rack with guilt as she turned around and ran away before he had the chance to tell her how wrong she was…_

_…so, he chose to pursue her…_

_…pursue her until he found she disappeared into an abysmal darkness…_

_…he looked at the darkness with wide eyes and approached it…_

_…two bright yellow eyes snapped opened from within the dark and glared at him…_

_...he took a step back as a stoic and cold face glared down at him…_

_The face of Shirou Emiya sneered at him._

_**"You are a slave."** _

 


	4. Broken Smiles: Part 1

_4/11 Morning_

"Hey, did you hear a new student is getting transfer here?"

"Seriously, didn't we already have one? Is this guy just as much trouble as the last one?"

"I heard he has a criminal record!"

"Oh! My! God! Why are they letting a criminal here!"

"Geez, before we had to deal with Sakamoto and that thug Emiya, but now we have to deal with a full-blown criminal!?"

"At least Emiya is a suck up, guy's probably just a coward. I mean, he has been helping Kamoshida with all kind of things!"

"Yeah, Kamoshida-san is such a great man. He'll help out anyone in need!"

"Say what you will about Emiya, but he's smart enough not to slap away the help from his teachers, unlike Sakamoto!"

"I'm scare, a criminal is coming here and I don't know how he looks like! What will happen if I accidently stumble into him!?"

"Hey, that Sakamoto is late again…why not throw his ass out already! And also throw Emiya and the new transfer student out while they're at it!"

Shirou passed in front of the male student that had said that, his golden brown eyes flickered for just a second towards the student and he yelped at the look. The redhead sighed and shook his head as he headed for his class. He went up the stairs for the second floor and saw that the students still chatted about the same thing as on the floor below.

He sighed once more in annoyance and scratched his cheek. "Geez, the rumor mill is rampant today…but, didn't I hear about a student like that when I came here with Maiya-san?"

"Emiya-kun, good morning." The demure voice of Shiho came from behind, it made his annoyance lift away and he smiled instinctively as he turned towards the dark hair girl.

"Suzui-san, good morning…" He's voice went low as he noticed the small purple bruise on her jawline. "Hey…are you okay?"

Shiho's hand went for where bruise was with a down look. She winced when her finger brushed against the colored injury, but made no noise.

"Yes, it was…just what I get for arriving late at practice yesterday."

"Suzui-san…"

"Heh…don't worry about it Emiya-kun, if I couldn't handle a couple of bruises, then I would've dropped out of the team a long time ago." She assured him with a strain smile. "And anyway, I did tell you I would give everything I have to this, didn't I?"

Shirou looked away with a frowned, sighed in exasperation and nodded. "Yeah."

The girl nodded and looked at the gossiping students. "Geez, the new student hasn't even arrived and they are already talking about him so badly."

"Yeah…" Shirou responded, his eyes still focused on the girl's bruise. "Kind of weird that people are talking about his criminal record, isn't that stuff confidential?"

"Hmmhm, someone leaked it apparently." Shiho revealed with a frown. "I don't know why someone would do something like this, they just ruined the new student's chance for a normal school life."

Shirou looked at her with wide eyes, then smiled. "Huh…you really are a very kind person, Suzui-san."

"Hehehe, why? Because I'm showing concern for the new student? I did the same for you, didn't I?" She said with a smile as she looked up at him. "Who knows, maybe he's like you. A good person who was unfairly judge."

"Heh, maybe."

Shiho looked away from and nodded. "…hey, Emiya-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"I haven't forgotten what you said yesterday…so I'll try my best to help out Ann. I really miss her and I really want to talk with her…so, sorry if I don't make tim—!"

"Suzui-san." Shirou interrupted firmly, this cause the girl to look up at him in surprise. "Don't worry, you do what you think will make you happy. As long as you can keep that smile up, that will be enough for me."

She blushed deep red at his words, she looked down with wide eyes and nodded demurely.

"R-Right…! I'll do that! I will most definitely do that! So…so wish me luck!"

The redhead smiled, his cheeks burned red as he looked at her. "No need for luck, I know someone like you doesn't need it."

"…!" She nodded, looked up at him with a red face and nodded again before she scurried away towards her own classroom. Shirou watched her go, the smile still present on his face until she fully disappeared inside her own classroom. The smile turned down and was replaced with a frown.

' _That bruise…how can she keep going while suffering that kind of harsh treatment? I can imagine practicing under a nationalist winner is tough, but is it really this much? Even I could tell how force that smile of her was…is there anything I can do?"_

He glared down at the floor, shook his head, and headed off for his classroom. His thoughts in turmoil over his friend's situation.

_4/11 Afternoon, Afterschool_

Shirou returned the toolbox back to the female council student and she nodded uncertainly towards him, she looked up toward the fixed lights on the ceiling. The redhead stepped around her and walked outside the classroom. He took a deep breath and looked at the common sight of the whispering students.

"—they arrived late!"

"First day in school and the criminal student is already breaking the rules. What a bastard."

"Sakamoto got here late too, worse it's that he and the new transfer student got here together."

"I heard the police had to bring them in! Those guys are nothing but trouble!"

"I hope Emiya doesn't join them, it'll be chaos if that ever happens!"

The redhead scratched the back of his head at the news he gathered. He shook his head and walked through the halls.  _'The police got involve? Or is that the usual exaggeration from the rumor-mongering students?'_

As he got near the stairs, he saw a frizzy hair student go down the steps toward the second floor with slouched shoulders. Shirou stopped as the student rounded the stairs to go for the first floor. The student never returned the look as he kept he's head down in a demure and inoffensive manner.

' _He seems pretty shy.'_ The redhead thought as the frizzy hair student disappeared beneath the staircases.

"You saw that?" A male student gossiped. "That criminal transfer student almost bump into Emiya."

"You think a fight will go down?"

"Oh, please no! Don't cause any more problems for the rest of us!"

Shirou blinked curiously at the words and stared down at the staircase with a tilted head. He adjusted his bag and went down the steps.

' _Huh, that's the crime student? I wasn't expecting him to look so…frizzy?'_

He reached down at the first floor and let his eyes wander about to look at the frizzy hair student, but saw that the new transfer student had already disappeared. He scratched the back of his head, reached for his wallet and decided to go for a drink. He went on to search for a vending machine, his ears kept being pelted at by the rumor loving students about the new student and Sakamoto.

He reached the vending machine that was beside the bread shop in the school and put the money in, decided what drink he wanted and pressed the button to get it. As he waited for the drink to drop he looked toward his right, and through the glass door that lead for the county-yard he saw the familiar shape of Shiho. He's face brightened at the sight, he grabbed his drink and went to greet her—

The moment his hand touched the glass door, he caught sight of a blond girl beside Shiho. He furrowed his brows curiously at the fact, he tilted his head and managed to see the dark girl's expression, and—

She looked happy, genuinely happy at that.

The way Shiho talked with the blond showed relieve and comfort as the other girl returned the feelings with excitement and her own brand of cheeriness. His eyes widened as he assumed that the blond was Ann, the girl who was Shiho's best friend. A smile form on his face when the dark hair girl covered her mouth and shook as her blond friend smiled happily.

He turned away from the door and decided to head home, satisfied with the sight of the smiling and happy girl.

He froze at the thought, body tense and the corner of his mouth were pulled down as he frowned. He looked back to where Shiho and her friend Ann were with furrowed brows.

' _Why do I care so much about Suzui-san being happy?'_

Because she was his friend?

" _But I barely know her…and we've only met a few days ago, so why do I care so much?'_

…

He did not know how to respond to that—no, he had a response, but it wasn't one he like.

He closed his eyes to get rid of his thoughts—

' _Onii-chan…'_

Shirou's golden brown eyes snapped opened and he shook his head, a grimace on his face. He's head buzzed heavily and he gritted his teeth.

He looked at his hands and found them bloodied.

He looked up and saw as the crowd of Homurahara students with shocked expressions.

He looked towards his side and saw a guilty Illya.

Shirou's face clenched tight, placed a hand on his forehead and applied pressure to it until the buzzing disappeared.

He looked up and found everything back to normal, he sighed and slouched forward.

"This is wrong…I can't be doing this just because I feel guilty for Illya…it isn't fair to her or for Suzui-san…" Shirou muttered and looked up with narrowed eyes.

He needed to get some rest, it had been a tiring day. Shiho was doing her best to fix her current situation with her friend and it was for the best he did the same with himself. With that he nodded and walked out of the school.

_._

_._

_._

_._

_4/12 Lunch time_

"Yeah, the crime student got here early. You think he's taking his responsibilities seriously?"

"I bet he's just doing it so he doesn't get into trouble."

Shirou ignored the chatter around him as he ate the last piece of his lunch. He put down the bento box, cleaned his mouth and leaned back on the bench on the small county-yard. He stretched, felt the bones popped into place and let out a relieve sigh escape him. He looked ahead from his seat and saw Shiho as she went to enter the Practice Building of the school.

"Suzui-san, hey." He greeted loud enough to catch her attention, when she turned towards him he gave her a smile.

She returned a fragile smile back at him.

Shirou's smile melted away at that, as worry for the girl enrapture him. He looked her right in the eyes, but she refused to meet them. Her brown eyes were a little dull and tired, her bruise jaw was healing, but other problems seemed to gnaw at her.

"I'm sorry Emiya-kun, I'm…I'm busy right now…" Shiho said simply as she looked away from him.

"Suzui-san…"

"We can talk today if you want…but only through text, I have practices today and…I still have to make up for my lateness on Sunday." Her words made his heart clench and he got up from his seat, he took a step towards her. She just looked down with a defeated expression.

"I'm sorry, if I knew I had caused you so much trouble I wouldn't have told you to eat with me. It's all my fault."

"…"

Shirou winced at the lack of response. "Suzui-san, is Kamoshida-san still on his office? I'll tell him that it's my fau—!"

"No!"

"H-Huh…?" Shirou took a step back in surprise at the outburst from the girl. Shiho shook her head and stared at him, her lips curled up to give him a genuine smile.

"I will handle my own mistakes, there's no need for you to get involve Emiya-kun. You've already helped me enough." Her smile waver slightly, but remained genuine even after she shifted uncomfortably. "I already said that I would dedicate my all for the sport I love and toward spending time with Ann, so don't worry about me. Are you okay?"

The question caught him completely off-guard, and he took a hesitant step back. "Huh…huh…yeah? Um, Yeah I am okay, I'm more worry about you Suzui-san."

She shook her head, her lips still curved upward. "Don't worry about me. Just be a little patient with me okay? Tomorrow is the volleyball rally and I need to prepare, Ann has been encouraging me to show off how good I am and I can't exactly deny her this…also, speaking of her, you'll be soon meeting Ann. She's very excited to meet you after I told her all that you did for me."

"Huh? Really?" Shirou cocked his head toward the side. "Well, I didn't do much, I just told you how I felt…and caused you more trouble in the process."

"You worry to much." She gestured toward the bruise. "This is nothing Emiya-kun…oh, I seriously have to leave. Sorry for cutting our talk short, but I gotta go. I'll text you tonight if you don't mind."

Shirou took out his phone and nodded towards it. "Yeah, I won't mind at all."

Shiho nodded in satisfaction at his response, turned away from him and walked into the building.

The redhead watched her go, he sighed and looked down. The sight of that fragile smile was enough to give him pause, he wanted nothing more than to try and take care of her problems so that she could keep on going smiling genuinely. But he didn't know how to help her at all, the problems she was facing were just school work from his perspective and nothing more. It wasn't like he could just stroll to Kamoshida's class and tell him to stop being so though in his practices, it wasn't his right to do so and Shiho herself didn't want that.

' _Then again…I'm assuming it's just school, it could be a whole combination of things…'_ He grunted at the thought, annoyed at how useless he felt. All he really wished for was to somehow help the girl and relieve her of some of her burden.

' _But what if I screw it up even worse than when I tried to save Illya?'_

The traitorous thought gave him pause, his hand tightened over his phone as he frowned heavily. Everything he did or thought about somehow came around back to that fateful day. Ever since the accident he had done nothing but regret the pain he had cause Illya. The crushing guilt he felt at her expression was more than what he could handle.

The entire world could've turned against him, but the mere absence of a smile on Illya's face was more of a problem to him.

Shirou glared heatedly at the grown. "So why….?"

Why was it that he felt shame whenever he thought of helping Shiho? Did he really want to make up for his failing with Illya that he would go that far to help this one girl just for that? Was he that much of an asshole that he couldn't even help this girl just because he wished to help her and not for the sake of fixing his past mistake?

Did he even care for the girl at all or was all his actions up until now nothing more than his own selfish desire to amend for the past? A ingenuine attempt to help the first person he saw unhappy when he arrived at the school…

Shirou clicked his tongue at the thought and turned away, grabbed his bento box, and walked briskly away from the county-yard. He needed to think, but first he needed to get through his classes.

_4/12 Evening_

Shiho's text never came with the weight of his phone on his hand. He fell into a turbulent and restless sleep.

_._

_._

_._

_._

_4/13 Early Morning_

Shirou's eyes cracked opened as the morning sun filtered in.

He got up from the bed and shuffled his way for the bedroom's door.

He grasped the handled and prepared to tur—!

"—he hasn't entered that  _place_  yet."

The redhead stopped and looked confusedly at the door as he heard Maiya speak. It was weird that she was still in the apartment, the only time he had caught her in the building had been on Sunday. Still, this was a rare moment.

He leaned forward and pressed his ear against the door.

"I haven't noticed any changes on him or his surroundings…No, the school he is in doesn't seem to be anything abnormal…I understand, I will take him out of the school and return him home by the end of the month if nothing happens."

He frowned as the woman's voice seemed to fade as she walked out of his earshot's range. He heard the front door opened.

"Understood—!" The door was shut and her voice was cut off. The young man pulled back, opened his door and peaked his head out to look if he was alone. Once he confirmed that Maiya had gone away he stepped out and crossed his arms

"What was that about?"

He shook his head and decided that whatever business the woman was dealing with wasn't his to meddle with. He was still curious over what she meant by 'place' or whom she was talking about, but thought it was better to just prepare for his day.

_4/13_

Today was the volleyball rally, where the entire school was supposed to come and support the volleyball team for the tournament that would be coming soon next month. It was something that a lot of students were excited and happy to see, as the school's volleyball team played against the great Olympic medalist Kamoshida.

Loud and enthusiastic cheers filled the gymnasium as Kamoshida jumped, his right arm pulled back, a focus frown on his face as he slammed the arm down and his palm hit the ball with a loud smacking sound. The students on the opposing team scattered away, except one who attempted to hit the ball and maintain it on the air—but he's efforts where for not as the ball smacked his joint fist down and hit the floor with enough force that it silenced the cheers in the gym.

Then the silence exploded into applause as everyone complimented the P.E. teacher's techniques. The man pumped the air in satisfaction at his moves and at the applause he was receiving, he turned towards his adult teammates and high-fived them.

Shirou who stood against the wall and watched the game with a winced. He knew that the force behind the ball had been enough to hurt the player who got hit. And the teacher just took it as a great moment to showboat.

The redhead had to wonder if this was what Shiho had to go through.

As he thought of her he noticed the girl move towards the student's team and talked with the player that had attempted to keep the round going. The young male student winced as his red hands shook from the powerful impact. Shiho placed a hand on his shoulder as he winced and knelt on one knee from the pain.

"Can somebody get him to the nurse's office, please? He seemed to have sprained his hand." Kamoshida said as he shook his head. "Didn't I teach you not to hold your hands like that when a player spikes the ball?"

The students muttered among themselves as the injured player was taken away. Shiho watched him go, she ignored the cry of the P.E. teacher as he called for somebody to take the empty spot in the student team. The dark girl frowned with a pained look, then stared at the blond girl who sat on one of the folding chairs with narrowed eyes. The blond noticed the look and tilted her head with a scowl. The blond then gave her a smile nodded encouragingly, she pumped her fist and stood up.

Shiho straightened up and looked as if someone had lightened up a fire in her, she walked towards the team. They all eagerly accepted her with open arms. She smiled at them and stared at Kamoshida, who looked back at her with a questioning look.

"I'll take the spot." She said confidently, the teacher narrowed his eyes at her words.

"This is the boy's team Suzui-san, it wouldn't be fair to you to play with the boys." The teacher said with concern, yet his eyes remained narrowed at the girl's forward behavior.

"It's no problem, I've played with boys before and I've never had any issues. Do you all have issues with me playing?" Shiho asked the team, all the boys shook their heads.

"No captain!"

She blushed at the respect and gratefulness from the team and turned towards the teacher. "It won't be any trouble if I take this spot, will it?"

The question seemed to irk the teacher slightly, but the man hid his irritation well enough, though Shirou caught it. The man smiled at her and nodded, a rueful grin spread through his face.

"Well I guess that's fine, but let me warn you, I can't hold back here. Holding back would be insulting for the boys there if I do so just because a girl joined the team. You do understand, Suzui-san? So, it isn't too late to back down."

Shiho flickered her eyes towards Shirou, and the redhead blinked as the girl wilted down at the words. He narrowed his eyes at the way girl was acting. The teacher's words, they weren't a show of concern, they couldn't be when the man spoke so passive-aggressively towards the girl.

' _Is he…is he threatening her?'_ That couldn't be right, a teacher shouldn't be behaving like that. Kamoshida may have reveal himself to be a showoff, but to threatened a student? If that were the case, then the man would've been fire and the student body wouldn't treat him so favorably.

Shirou sighed and pushed the thoughts back as he watched the girl look back at him. The girl's earlier boldness and energy seemed to have been diminishing, and she looked ready to back down as the teacher stared down at her with a neutral face—though, the contempt was noticeable if one looked closely enough. He just clicked his teeth at the girl's downtrodden.

It just didn't look right at all, a smile was much more fitting on her face than that defeated look. With his decision made, he unintentionally smiled at her and gave her a resolute nod.

Shiho caught it and her lips spread into a weak and small smile, but it was one filled with determination. She stared back at Kamoshida and nodded at him.

"If I couldn't take it, then I wouldn't be here Kamoshida-sensei." She repeated the words she had said to him with conviction.

The teacher's face twisted into one of shock, before the corner of his lips twisted into a force smile. "Hah, that's true, that's true. That's why you are the girl's captain! I wouldn't have given you that position if you weren't good! Let's see how you can handle an Olympic medalist in front of a crowd Suzui-san!"

The students started to comment about the situation now.

"You see that? Kamoshida really cares about his team there!"

"Of course, he's gonna care, that's the girl's volleyballs captain right there. It isn't like he's going to hurt her."

"I heard that the volleyball team considers her to be the entire team's captain since she's the best!"

"A rising star, no wonder Kamoshida coaches her personally! She's the shining beacon of our school!"

Shirou's eyes narrowed at that, but didn't have time to think about that as the game started once more. The redhead looked away from the students and paid close attention to game, now that Shiho was there, he was curious to see her moves.

And she didn't disappoint at all.

She moved with grace and intense precision, her actions and presence managed to soothe her teammates nervousness. They coordinated as a cohesive unite and stayed on par with the adults. Shiho jumped, hit the ball with a great deal of force and managed to catch some of the adults off guard. The only reason they didn't lose whenever she went for the win was because Kamoshida was there to save his team—or more accurately, try and reclaim the attention from the crowd who cheered excitedly for the rising star Shiho.

The ball was on the air, the Olympic medalist jumped, pulled his armed back with an intense look on his face as he smacked the volleyball down with incredible power towards Shiho. Shirou's eyes widened at that fact and from the corner of his eye he caught sight of Ann as she froze. The ball neared the dark hair girl and—

Shiho managed to perfectly bump the incoming ball up and let her one of her teammates spike the ball right into the floor, scoring a point for them.

Specifically, the ball had impacted the floor right between Kamoshida's feet.

There was silence and then the entire gym cheered, hollered, and applauded at the sight. Ann herself was the loudest, whom Shiho turned towards to with a small smile. The dark hair girl then looked at her team and nodded, as the boys complimented her on her techniques. She let her eyes wondered towards his and pumped her fist with a little satisfaction.

Kamoshida on the other hand was not exactly impressed by the showing, he smiled tightly towards the opposite team. The student team noticed this as they stopped their celebration, the audience on the other hand didn't as they kept cheering. The teacher went over to their side and walked straight for Shiho, he placed a hand on her shoulder and she flinched.

"That was magnificently play Suzui-san! You're really putting everything I taught you to good use!" He's cheery voice made the students around muttered among themselves about how good of a teacher he was. The man smiled, but Shiho winced slightly as the hand on her shoulder tightened. "But I think you've already shown enough to the school, no need to show off!"

The audience all complained in disappointment at that, but were silence as Kamoshida explained that the other players had to show off their own skills. Shirou of course had tune out the man by that point as he stared Shiho.

The girl's once energized and determined smile had once again disappeared in face of the teacher's jealousy at being shown up. By the time the man had crossed over to her side of the court she had returned to her downtrodden ways. Shirou frowned at the fact, it was as if the man had complete dominion over her, as if the teacher just wanted her like that and not smiling or being positive.

Just a defeated looking Shiho.

He narrowed his eyes at that and had to wondered if he was just over thinking things, he had done a lot of that yesterday. Even though he had been slightly disappointed with the fact that the text never came, he dreaded more the fact that the text would come. He just didn't know how to handle his newfound discovery that everything he was doing was all to atone for his past mistakes.

He had failed to make Illya smile, so he went for that one girl who reminded him so much of her and tried to make her happy. That thought was enough to make his stomach turned as he recognized that what he was doing was unnecessarily selfish and cruel to someone who was indeed a great person and was obviously in a lot of pain.

He just wanted to be genuine with that one person who had helped him too, but like all his thoughts always did, they came back to the image of a crying Illya.

It was unfair and it wasn't right to help the girl because of reasons like those.

And yet…

The sight of that downtrodden expression on Shiho's face as Kamoshida turned towards her and gave her a tight smile—

"Well, you guys did a good job playing, but I think it's time to let another team play." The teacher said with a boyish grin and upbeat voice—though, his eyes remained narrowed as they stared at the squirming Shiho. "I'll see you in practice after classes are over, since you have shown yourself to be this good—it means I'll have to step my game up."

Shiho closed her eyes and winced, the boys bowed their heads and walked away when the teacher shooed them away. The audience remained ignorant to the obvious discomfort of the school players and just complimented the teacher, who smiled at them and gestured for the next team to come.

—but, even though he had his doubts over what his intentions are when he regarded the dark hair girl…he understood it that the wrongness of the scene that had played out before him made his stomach burned and twist.

Shirou's eyes followed Shiho and looked down, a scowl on his face. That scene made him understand that whatever had made the girl act so depressed was truly serious and not just 'though training' like she had told him. Her reasons for downplaying them were her own—in fact he could guess that the reason she didn't tell him in detail was because she didn't trust him.

_They had only met a few days ago after all._

That thought made him frown deeper and feel somewhat creeped out with his own overbearing attitude towards Shiho. It wasn't normal to feel like this and it wasn't exactly good, Shiho was just a girl who he had recently met and had a bond that was steadily growing into that of a friendship.

But when he looked back at her and saw her defeated grimace on her face—in his heart, he knew it wasn't wrong to try and help her to smile.

_It was what he always did with Illya, wasn't it?_

Shirou blinked at the thought and soured.

Once more his thoughts came back into full circle towards Illya and that made him feel doubtful of his own actions.

.

.

.

.

The volleyball rally had come to a recess period.

Shirou rested against the wall of the third-floor hallways and groaned. The students had all steered away from him and gave him room to brood. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts go back to the repetitive loop over the matter with Shiho, were they always ended with Illya.

"You're Emiya-kun, right?"

Shirou's eyes snapped open and stared at the natural light blond girl with blue eyes that stood before him. He cocked his head to the side and stared at her curiously.

"Takamaki-san?" His involuntarily let out as the blond looked at him with a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, Shiho's talked to you about me, huh? Or…" She let her eyes wandered towards the students around.

He snorted at the clear implication. "Well, I guess a little bit a both actually, students here talked way to freely about people."

"Hmmhm, the rumors in this school are completely out of this world. They just keep getting out of hand more and more."

"Yeah…" Shirou looked at the smiling blonde. "Huh…what can I do for you Takamaki-san?"

Ann smiled and gave him a small bow. "Thank you."

"Huh…?"

The blond stood right back up and stared at him with determination. "I said thank you."

"For what? I didn't exactly do anything for you…did I?" Shirou racked his brain over if he had ever helped the blond before him, but found nothing. Ann let out a small giggle and grin at him when he gave her a confused look.

"You know, Shiho said you were a bit of a klutz, but I didn't think you were that ditzy!"

"Eh!? What's that supposed to mean!?"

"It means…!" Ann trailed off with a grateful look on her face. "That you should take my thanks for all the help you gave Shiho when I couldn't be there for her."

"But…I didn't help her at all." Shirou said simply, his thoughts went towards the unsmiling girl and how his own actions may not even honest with the girl.

Ann on the other hand frowned and looked at him with annoyed expression.

"Geez! Can you just take my thanks already! I'm serious right here!"

"Whaa—!" The redhead had to take a step back as the girl took one step forward.

"I don't get why you're so stubborn over accepting my thank you! Do you really think you haven't help Shiho at all!" Ann placed her hand on her hips and stared at surprised looking Shirou. "You've help her a lot! When you fixed whatever it was inside of Kamoshida's office, you took off a huge load out of Shiho's shoulder. We hadn't talked for a while until this Monday, but I know her so well, that even from a distance I could tell how relieve she was! So, don't go off say that you haven't help her, because you have!"

Shirou had to look at her in shock at how direct the girl was being. "Really…?"

Ann nodded simply. "Hmmhm, you've helped her a lot and you actually made her smile! I haven't see her smile like that in a long time."

"What…smile?" The redhead's eyes were wide at the revelation. "No, I mean I know I've made her smile a few times…but whenever I look at her she's always looks so…so down and so sad…"

"Hey! She can't always be smiling, you know? It's just not normal, I think. And anyway, just because she isn't smiling doesn't mean she isn't all right." Ann looked off to the side and nodded resolutely. "You're new to the school, so you wouldn't know how Shiho used to be, but before she was a lot worse. She's strong, really strong, but even someone as strong as her has her limits. It didn't help that her volleyball practices got in the way of our get togethers two months ago…"

"…" He frowned at her word. Ann hands were clenched tight as she thought about those times. Then she looked up and grin.

"But then you came and told her to spend time with me. She said everything you did on Sunday, how you helped a homeless person and how you reminded her of how important I am to her…" The girl's eyes began to water and brought her arm up to rub them.

Shirou at the sight panicked. "H-Hey! Wait, don't cry!"

"I'm not crying damnit!" She refused furiously as she rubbed her eyes furiously. "I'm just getting overly emotional, that's all! It's just…it's been so long since I've seen Shiho be so upbeat. I've been working so hard to get her back to being like that, encouraging her on her volleyball practices! Telling her how strong she is for taking the tough the practices head on! How great she is for being such a great student while being the lead player on her team…but nothing would stick…I guess I was just so afraid of saying something more than just praises and making things worse, but then you come in and make her smile like she used to in two days. I mean…I should be feeling jealous of you doing something I was working so hard to do for my best friend…but I'm just so glad."

Shirou looked down, warmth filled him at the admission. He had helped her that much? He's mind could barely comprehend how he done it, but—

He felt something that had reached him not to long ago, when he had helped Shiho unconditionally and without unnecessarily complicating things.

It was satisfaction

He was satisfied that he had helped the girl back then and he was satisfied to hear that he done so after that day as well. The feeling wasn't shackle by his thoughts of his little sister or the mess that got him to Tokyo in the first place, for once it was free and he recognized for what it was. He let his stubbornness fall away and it made him recognized the fact that he had blinded himself when he thought of Shiho's smile—

He wasn't wrong for wanting to help her.

Shirou may have regretted how he had handled the situation with Illya, he may have felt guilt, he may have wanted nothing more than to right that wrong and almost all his thoughts would circle back to that fateful day, but…

"It isn't wrong to want to make a friend smile." He said with chuckle as his turmoiled thoughts finally ceased and calm down.

Ann blinked at his words and tilted her head. "Huh, well, of course it isn't…that's what friend do."

Shirou smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, I was just being too dumb to recognize that fact."

"Hrm, you know, Shiho said you were hard on yourself, but don't you think you're being way to harsh?"

"No, not really. I'm just stating a fact." He said confidently and stepped forward towards the blond, he bowed respectfully. "I accept your thanks Takamaki-san…and please accept mine for making me realize something so obvious."

Ann looked at him in surprise and then grinned. "For reals? Then yeah, your welcome."

Shirou righted himself. "So, is that all you wanted to say to me then, Takamaki-san?"

"Oh, I guess so, yeah." She nodded, she sighed and looked back at the redhead. "Well I guess, it wasn't the only reason, I mean I wanted to get to know the guy who did so much for Shiho."

"Ah, well, I can't say I wasn't curious about meeting you. The way Suzui-san described you was—!"

"Like a total ball of sugar with a great bod?" The blond asked in confirmation, a smile on her face.

"Uh…yeah, I really shouldn't be surprise that you guessed that. She did mention you to being friends for a long time."

"Hmmhmm, I've known her since forever, my best friend and…I guess my only friend really." She smiled sadly at him. "So, it hurt a lot to know how her practices kept her away from me…I never resented her for her focusing on volleyball, it's her dream to become a star player in the nationals. I always encouraged her to do her best and never look back, because if you want something you have to get it with your own two hands—and I couldn't live with myself knowing that I took that away from her…but, I really did miss her a lot. Do you have someone you miss? Shiho didn't give tell me all the details about you, but I do know you're from Fuyuki, so your ways away from home."

"Yeah." Shirou looked away at that with a frown. An image of Illya's face formed on his mind. "There's someone I miss more than I thought I would…"

Ann nods, she grabs her hanging forearm and swayed slightly in thought. "Hmm, you know, I had to wonder why Shiho would associate with someone like you."

"Huh?"

"I mean…" She looked away with a frown. "I'm not trying to be unfair, but that video really showed off how violent you could be and…well the news apparently didn't help you a whole lot, I didn't see them, but I do know that they spoke very badly of you and all that…but, Shiho vouched for you in these last few days and even went and call you her own inspiration!"

Shirou looked at her incredulously. "Inspiration? Why would she look up to me as an inspiration!?"

"Beats me! But if she looks up to you so highly, then there's no way you can be a bad person. And then there was you helping out Shiho the first time because you saw her about to crying a lot—!"

"Wait a second—! She didn't even look as if she was about to cry!"

"—her words not mine—and then you helped out a homeless man and gave him food! And more importantly you made Shiho smile. You even made her open up and make time for me again." Her eyes welled up again and Shirou winced at the rush of emotion on the girl's face. "The last three days…had to be the best I've had in a while now…so really, when I'm saying thanks here, I'm not screwing around. I mean it. Because it really means a lot to me."

Shirou watched the girl and smiled at her. "Yeah…and I'm glad. Keeping her smiling…keeping her smiling means a lot to me too, she's a great person who looks better when she smiles."

Ann stared at him in surprise and then giggled. "Ah, for reals? You're like a real life white knight in shining armor!"

The redhead gave her an embarrassed look. "I wouldn't go that far…"

The blond smiled at his response. "At least the way you're trying to help is actually a lot better and less troublesome than how Kurusu and Sakamoto are doing it?"

"Sakamoto, Kurusu? What do you mean?"

She shook her head with a trouble look. "I saw them asking the volleyball team around questions…I don't know what their trying to pull, but it isn't going to get them anywhere. No one is really going to help them…and they're just going to make things on the long run."

The last words were muttered and Shirou frowned at that, memories of Kamoshida behavior back in the gymnasium filtered into his head.

"It's going to get Kamoshida into a bad mood, right?" Ann looked up at him with a frown, but didn't answer. The redhead clenched his fist tightly at the silence. "Suzui-san wasn't telling the whole truth about what happens when he gets in a bad mood, right?"

"…even I don't know all the details. Shiho just kept telling me that everything was all right…and, well, I just didn't know what to do. I just, I just encouraged her as best I could…and tried smooth over things at times…"

"Hrm…isn't there anything we can do?"

Ann shook her head. "No one in the volleyball team is going to help you, there have been people who have tried but have been shut down by other teachers or even the principal. And the team is reclusive, even Shiho started being like that after Kamoshida took over as coach…and going against a teacher like him isn't going to help."

Shirou clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes. "So, what? We just stand here and do nothing about it?"

"Yeah." She responded simply with a sad look. "It's the best that you can do…Kamoshida is a pretty influential guy in this school, so going against him is a bad idea…the best you can do is to encourage Shiho!"

"But—!"

"Shiho's strong, and like I told you she's stronger than what she used to be before you came along. She's taken everything that Kamoshida through at her before, but now she can take it and dish it back! That's what I keep telling you, but you just don't get! You've helped her be even stronger than before, you've helped get her drive back, you've help her smile! Get it? Shiho's the strongest person I know, so she'll be okay. Don't worry about it, just…just be there for her!"

Shirou stared at the girl with surprise and looked down, his cheeks red from embarrassment at the effect he had on the dark hair girl. He was happy to hear that, but it still left a bad taste on his mouth to do nothing about a teacher who clearly show pettiness and arrogance back in the rally.

"Fine, I'll keep encouraging her forward." Shirou conceded for the blond.

"Alright! Now, time for me to make another stop and talk to Kurusu and Sakamoto. I need them to back off with all those questions their making. Because they're not helping anyone."

"Want me to come with you?"

"Huh? Nah, it'll be fine." The blond gave him a smile and turned to walk away from him. "Oh, right I forgot! Don't tell Shiho we met, okay? She's pretty excited over getting the two us to meet! So don't ruin that for her, got it?"

The redhead gave her a smile. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on that."

Ann nodded and walked away, Shirou just watched her go. He looked down and gritted he's teeth.

He couldn't just stand there and do nothing especially Kamoshiada said—

… _I'll see you in practice after classes are over, since you have shown yourself to be this good—it means I'll have to step my game up…_

The way the man had acted, and the way the he had said that made him uncomfortable.

There was something he needed to do, for Shiho.

But, what?

.

.

.

.

**—** ** Interlude ** **—**

**The Phone Call**

_4/13 Early Morning_

The ring of her cellphone assaulted her hears as she patiently waited for the call to be pick up from the other line. Not a second after that thought, the ringing was cut and the call was picked up.

"Maiya." A cold and gruff male voice said simply, the exhaustion could be felt from his tone.

The woman eyes twitched at the slight uncharacteristic show of emotion, but ignored it.

"I've called to give out my weekly report."

"Have there been any complications? Have you been found out?" The man cut right to business quickly.

Maiya pressed a hand over her shoulder and winced. "No, it's been two weeks, but my position has yet to be given away. No one has tailed me and I've yet to become a victim of the Mental Shutdown Cases. From what I can tell, my mind is still operating well."

"Good, then the operation is still in full effect. As long as they can't detect you, then their may be a chance we can finally put a stop to all of this."

"Will we be having any interference from your side?"

"No, every is under control here. Has Shirou acclimated to Tokyo yet?"

"Yes, the boy has been handling his new surroundings well. As per your instructions, I've left him be in his stay here and only kept distant surveillance. He's interacted with a girl who's shown sign of abuse, but nothing 'otherworldly' as occurred yet."

"…so, nothing has yet to happened then?"

"That  _man_ told us he would prepare the means for Shirou to go into that  _other world_ , but he hasn't entered that  _place_  yet."

"Are you sure? There haven't been any anomalies surrounding him? Or he himself showing any signs of foul play?"

"I haven't noticed any changes on him or his surroundings."

"What about the school? That _man_  specially called for Shirou to be moved to Shujin Academy."

The woman grabbed her keys and headed for the door. "No, the school he is in doesn't seem to be anything abnormal."

"…then get ready for an extraction by the end of April as per the agreement. Tokyo is far too dangerous, I already placed too much risk on Shirou in order to play this gamble."

She stopped at those words and looked down at the phone. "I understand, I will take him out of the school and return him home by the end of the month if nothing happens."

"If something does happened contact me immediately…I'll explain the situation personally to him. It is the least I could do for him."

Maiya stopped right in front of the apartment's door. 'Having a family has really made you go soft.'

"Understood…" She got out of the apartment and closed the door behind her. "Kiritsugu."

She ended the call and got ready for another day of surveillance.

…

…

…

Kiritsugu placed the phone down the seat beside him and stared through the front window of his car at the Emiya household. He slouched down his seat when he saw a worry looking Irisviel step out of the house, the mother ignored the insistent Sella that tried to put on her shoes to accompany her.

Irisviel stopped in front of the house front steps and looked around. She quickly noticed him and frown in his direction. She shook her head, turned around and walked away.

Kiritsugu just sighed, reached for a cigarette, placed it on his mouth and looked up toward the morning sky.

"Shirou…Illya…I'm sorry, but it had to be done…"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers, thank you for reading. Just so you know, this chapter was actually split into two parts as it was getting to long and it actually became a slog to read through. So I split them up in a point where it would be good to end it. I was going to get to the Castle of Lust, but I found that it wouldn't do good for the pacing of the story if we reached that point so quickly. So I went in this direction.
> 
> Anyway's thank you for reading, until next time.


	5. Broken Smiles: Part 2

_4/13 Afternoon, Afterschool_

Shirou walked out of the school, he's earlier good mood after the talk with Ann was gone after the blond made him worry even more for Shiho's situation. When he thought about how Shiho talked about her practices and how the team acted during the rally, it became clear to him that something was happening behind the scenes. The problem was trying to understand how big the teacher's 'rough and tough practices' went.

And how he could've helped the girl out, without his actions infuriating the coach.

"—!" Shirou grunted as he stepped back, he had just bumped into someone while he was in deep thought. "I'm sor—!"

His apology was cut short when he was met with the glaring brown eyes of Sakamoto.

"Oh, it's you." The dyed blond said simply, hands in his school trouser pockets as he looked at him with a scowl on his face. "What'cha want? Did Kamoshida send you to scare me off or something?"

Shirou blinked, bewildered by the words. "Kamoshida? Send me? What are you talking about?"

The school resident delinquent took a step forward and glared at him irratatibly. "Don't act all innocent. I know you're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida too, you're the guy who fixes everything he orders you to. So don't deny it."

"Buddy-buddy…?" Shirou's lips curled into a sneer at the feeling of discomfort the association brought. The dyed blond took it as sign of aggression instead of the redhead's distress.

"Listen pal, I don't care how much of a violent guy you are! But I ain't stopping! You won't scare me off and I'll get make every shitty thing Kamoshida did to his students come out! So as a piece of advice from a  _'delinquent'_  to another, get away from that piece of shit, he's just an asshole that abuses his students! So stop sucking up to him just because the entire school is against you."

But Shirou didn't heard what Sakamoto had said at the end of his rant. The only thing he heard, the only thing that stood out on his mind was—

Abuse.

Abuse.

Abuse—!

How could he be so dumb? So blind to the signs?

It was so obvious, wasn't it?

Shiho's behavior whenever she talked about Kamoshida and the practices, the way the other students acted during the rally and what Ann had said—

… _Kamoshida is a pretty influential guy in this school, so going against him is a bad idea…_

Shiho's bruises…

Ringing bells went off his head, was that why no one talked about his rather obvious bad behavior? Was his influence that great that people preferred to simply ignore what he did? Were the teachers aware about this situation? Or they didn't and the only ones aware were the students? Shirou looked down, he hadn't noticed the frown that Sakamoto gave him before he scoffed and walked away at the fact that he's advice had fallen into deaf ears. The redhead was still in thought as he mulled over his thoughts.

Abuse…

So many people use that word to simply complain about mundane things that it had just lost the weight it carried. But now, that word weighted like a boulder on his heart. A cold sweat dripped down his face as he imagined what the dark girl must have gone through to get the bruises he saw on her. He's eyes widened, the rally had ended, and volleyball practices had commenced once more.

"Suzui-san!" He exclaimed, turned around and reentered the school with hurried steps. Everything in front of him blurred as he moved and moments later he reached the courtyard and stood in front of the pathway that lead for the school's gym. He gritted he's teeth and stalked forward, the rally had ended a while ago, so it was more than obvious that Kamoshida's coaching had begun already.

He stepped towards the door, raised a hand to burst it open and—

…

…

…

What was he doing? Wasn't this exact action what had caused his fall? Wasn't it because he had acted so rashly before that an entire slew of problems had befallen him and his family?

He was about to make the same mistake as he did back then and he realized what would happened if he repeated what he did back in Fuyuki. He would have garnered the same results as before and just make the situation worse.

Illya's crying face appeared in front of him.

" _Onii-chan…"_

As those words left his little sister's mouth, Illya's face contorted and turned into Shiho's face…a face of defeat and riddled with bruises.

" _Don't worry Emiya-kun, everything's okay…"_

Shirou bristled at the imaginary words, because he could truly see his dark hair friend say exactly that. And it was infurati—

"Agh!"

He froze, the muffled pained grunt reached his hear. There was silence as the redhead stood there like a statue, unsure of how to proceed.

"—up!—make sure you can take it!" That was the annoyed voice of Kamoshida, it was difficult to hear, but Shirou was sure that it was his voice. He stepped closer to the door and sharpened his ears.

"—gah! I can't—!"

That was a female's voice, Shiho's voice in fact—he's eyes widened and Shirou understood what needed to be done.

He had to stop this.

He stepped forward, but memories of what he had done with Illya assaulted his head again and made him hesitate. That hesitation gave him the time he needed to think things through and not do something recklessly.

When he actually about it, he understood that if he were to burst through the gymnasium's doors, then he would just make things worse for Shiho and the rest of the volleyball team. What he would provide for them was just a momentary respite and not a solution. In the end, he would end up in trouble and most likely end up suspended because he caused problems. At worse he would get expel, as his 'thug' reputation wouldn't have helped him at all.

But he knew that he needed to act—the thing was that he couldn't go about things like Sakamoto and Kurusu had either—

… _I saw them asking the volleyball team around questions…I don't know what they're trying to pull, but it isn't going to get them anywhere. No one is really going to help them…and they're just going to make things on the long run…_

—Ann had made it clear that the direct approach wasn't a good idea, and even though those two hadn't confronted Kamoshida with this—as far as he knew—it was clear that the man had learned about their actions and that had caused him to get angry. A direct approach wasn't optional, nor it was to try and tackle the issue by confronting elements that were related to the man. Whatever actions he took that was related to the volleyball team would just backfire—!

Unless of course, he went completely the other direction and didn't just went after the volleyball team—

—But the entire school.

He turned on his heel and hurried away, he kept his eyes peeled for the walls of the schools. He walked around he's eyes went from left to right, until he found what he needed—

Three minutes later, the school fire alarmed went off.

Everyone still in the school was forced to evacuate and stand outside the school gates as they wonder about what had happened.

Students, teachers, the principal, the sports team, the volleyball team and Kamoshida all stood outside. Their confusion over the event was palpable as they murmured among themselves and looked at the annoyed students that came out as the alarm rang on. A lot of students were impatient and infuriated that most of their afterschool activities had been ruined, so they decided to leave.

The teachers tried to handle the situation, some of them motivated the students to leave school grounds in the case of the emergency being real. The relief was clear on the volleyball team's expressions, as they took the opportunity to escape from Kamoshida's grasp. The man himself looked irritated at the interruption and at how the alarm blared loudly, but was more confuse over what had triggered said alarm.

Behind the corner Shirou of the alleyway in front of the school's gate, he saw Shiho. The girl looked downtrodden unlike the rest of her ilk who were just happy to have the opportunity to go away. The fresh red bruise splattered over her right eye made the girl wince anytime she blinked. She cringed away whenever Kamoshida got too close to her, but found no room to step further away from the man as her fellow classmates boxed her in with the man. The curly hair teacher shook his head and then stared at the girl with an impassive expression, yet his eyes were strangely cloudy. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

Shirou gritted his teeth and he could feel them cracked at the pressure he applied to them. Before he knew it, he's body moved and he pushed through the crowd of students with determined and harsh steps.

He needed to get her away from the man, now.

He ignored the students cries of indignation or complains as he pushed them aside, he's eyes were focused on the uncomfortable Shiho. He's ears caught onto what the teacher was saying.

"—you'll need to stay Suzui-san! I'll need your help to sort out some matters with the volleyball team. So, after we get this alarm business done we'll go to my office. Understood?"

Shirou didn't know what those words meant, he didn't understand it and he still didn't grasp the entire situation. Was it another threat? Was it something else? Or was he just jumping to conclusions?

Abuse.

Abuse.

**_Abuse._ **

No, he wasn't jumping to conclusions nor was he in the wrong from what he saw. Not when the girl's bruise looked so raw and painful. Not when the girl could barely control herself as she recoiled back at being neared the volleyball coach. And especially, not when Shiho had that swollen injury over her eye that looked that it had been formed from a punch to the face and not just from volleyball practices and a ball to the face.

He wasn't wrong—and he wouldn't regret what he was about to do. He just hoped that Shiho would find it in her heart to forgive him after everything was said and done.

"Ye—!" The dark hair girl was about to surrender towards her teacher's demands, but Shirou finally managed to reach her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Shiho turned towards him in surprise at his appearance, her glazed over brown eyes gained a small glint of life to them.

"Are you ready Suzui-san?"

"Uh…? Ready, for what…?" While the injured girl looked at him perplexedly, Kamoshida eyes narrow at his interruption.

"Our date, Suzui-san!" Shirou held back a wince at how callous he had said those words, but persevered on and said raised his voice. "Don't you remember that we agreed to go to one while we talked in the country yard yesterday? I am looking forward to it."

The students around them started to murmur among themselves at the revelation and the rumor-milled students quickly got to work about what he had just said could mean. Shirou didn't care for any of that, he looked straight at the confused girl and squeezed her shoulder lightly as he let his eyes wandered towards the incredibly annoyed Kamoshida with a pointed look.

A second later Shiho gasped lightly in realization, and the redhead was immensely happy that the girl had caught on to his act.

' _Good…that's the first part of this makeshift plan, now onto part two and hopefully the last one…'_  Shirou thought dryly as he was drilled under the heated look of Kamoshida.

"What are you doing Emiya? Causing trouble like this isn't going to garner you any points?" The P.E. teacher reprimanded with crossed arms.

"I'm not causing trouble at all Kamoshida-sensei…I'm just picking up my date here."

Shiho looked down and winced. "Date…"

"Emiya I suggest you stop this foolishness now, harassing my lead volleyball player is only going to make your school life here shorter. So, wizened up and stop playing games." Kamoshida scolded loudly for the few students that had stayed behind heard it and chatted among themselves. The teacher smiled at the way he had swayed the small crowd and by the way Shiho wilted onto the man's grip. "Don't squandered the opportunity I gave you for your rehabilitation, so go along. Suzui-san and I have business to attend to once this situation is over back in my office."

Shirou felt his heart tightened as everything started to work up to slip away. He wanted to get Shiho away from the teacher, but he's goal fell flat on its face if he couldn't have convinced the wavering girl ov—!

No one noticed, not even Shirou nor Kamoshida who were too focus in each other, the way Shiho's lifeless eye brightened up with fast and burning fire as she heard the teacher's final words. She tensed and looked up.

"Yes!" The outburst from the girl caught the two males by surprise, especially Kamoshida when she wiggled out of his grasp and hugged Shirou's arm tightly. She looked down as the burst of determination started to subside quickly. "I agreed to go on a date with Emiya-kun for that reason, to help with his rehabilitation. I thought it would be helpful and…I would be following in your example sensei."

The last bit was said with disdain, but the redhead looked at her with relieved that she had gained some of that energy he had seen back on the rally. Still, worry crept on him when she refused to meet his gaze under the smoldering eyes of Kamoshida bored on the two of them. The man tried to hide the sneer that had appeared on his face, but it only made his face appeared like a painful grimace.

"Suzui, there's no need to worry about that…" The teacher ground out as he stared at the girl fold onto herself in submission at the man's enmity. Shirou eyes widened as the girl's energy was once more zapped away completely from her by the teacher before them. He opened his mouth to refute the man's word, to try and get the girl away from him, but the man surprised him when with a strong hand he pulled Shiho away from his grasp and back towards the coach's. "Leave the thug's rehabilitation to me. Now do as you're are told by your teacher and—!"

"Kamoshida-san? Does there seem to be a problem here?" A woman's exasperated voice froze the action and the three of them turned towards Ms. Kawakami. The woman just regarded all of them with a tired gaze.

Kamoshida gave her an easy grin, and lessen the strength on his grip. "Oh, there's nothing going on here. I was just trying to get Suzui-chan here to help with something in the office, but Emiya here is bothering her with dates. And well, I can't have that, my volleyball's team captain cannot have such distractions bothering her."

Kawakami tilted her head and looked at Shirou's golden brown eyes, he winced as he's flickered towards the despairing Shiho. He's looked back towards the woman and grimaced as he looked down with a defeated expression. He had failed to get Shiho away with his current plan, now he would be forced to use drastic measures—!

"Kamoshida-san, classes are over. The school will be closing after all of this, so why not go home and rest. You did an impressive showing during the rally, you deserve some rest." The woman said simply as she scratched her head and looked back as some of the teachers nearby walked towards them. "Oh, right some of the teachers are going out for some drinks, and they asked me tell you if you wanted to go with them. "

"…no I…" Kamoshida's responded distractedly as he looked back at his fellow colleagues, he's grip on Shiho slacked and the girl use the opportunity to walked towards Shirou's side. She kept her back towards the teacher with grimaced on her face. The redhead placed his arm around her to try and comfort her.

Kawakami noticed the two and raised an eyebrow, she then shook her head and sighed. "Now off you two go, school's over and whatever you do is your problem. Just try and keep out of trouble okay?"

Shirou nodded, snaked his arm around Shiho's waist and led her as far away from the teacher. The girl let herself be dragged away with no resistance, her tense muscled relaxed the further away they got. Shirou at the positive fact, let out a sigh of relie—!

His breath was caught in a choked gasp and he had to hold back a wince as a powerful grip trapped in him in place. He looked down towards his right shoulder and saw a meaty hand that gripped painfully onto him, the redhead followed the hand, to the arm all the way up to the sneering face of Kamoshida. He kept he's cool under the hateful look of the teacher as he noticed the way the girl tensed right back up when she turned towards her coach.

"You've made a mistake, Emiya…I want you to realize that, understand?" Kamoshida questioned in a low voice. Shirou ground his teeth and looked forward as pained shot up through him. He could feel his collarbone strained under the powerful grip.

"…"

"No response huh? Fine, I'll see the two of you tomorrow…especially you Shiho…" The man's words were filled with enough venom that it was surprising that he's collarbone hadn't shattered yet. The man showed no cared for formalities or for appearances as he glared hatefully at him. He kept his grip on Shirou for a few moments longer, the man squeezed tightened one last time before he finally released his grip.

Shirou refused to give the man the satisfaction of the pain he felt on his shoulder, he unconsciously interlocked his fingers with Shiho's and walked away. He led the downtrodden girl away, relieved that he had managed to do the right thing. He looked at the girl, but she still refused to meet his gaze as she wore a pained expression.

"Suzui-san…"

"…" She finally looked up to him and gave him strained smile. He's grip on her hand tightened as he walked with her for the subway trains, where they could be as far away from Kamoshida, the school and all her troubles.

Unbeknownst to them, steel sharp grey eyes followed their movement. Kurusu reached for some of the strands of hair spilled over his face and twirled them as he watched the two of them go. He turned towards the fuming Kamoshida who tried to hide his disdain and anger while the other teachers talked with him. The glasses wearing 'criminal' smirked, he reached for his phone and looked up Sakamoto's name as he walked onward to his own destination.

.

.

.

.

Inside Shibuya diner were Shirou and Shiho, the two sat in an uncomfortable silence. They hadn't talked from the moment they had entered the subway, nor had the two paid any mind to the looks anyone gave to the bruise on the girl's face. The waitress came in and handed them their drinks, she left in a hurry as she wanted no part of their problems. The cups filled with their beverage were left untouched and unnoticed as droplets of water rolled to the table.

The redhead sighed as the awkwardness got the better of him and leaned forward. "Why didn't you say anything? I would've helped you."

"That's…that's exactly why I didn't say anything…" Shiho said with another one of her fragile smiles, she looked up to him. "You've already helped me more than enough Emiya-kun, you gave me strength when I needed it the most. So, there was no need to burden you with anymore of my problems."

"It wouldn't have been a burden." He said simply and wrinkled his nose in frustration at her words. He let out a hum as an earlier conversation with Ann replayed on his head. "Though I find it hard to believe you would find strength in anything I said, I'm not someone who inspires people."

The girl smiled softly at that and shook her head as her eyes gained a knowing glint to them. "Oh, so it's true, you did meet up with Ann."

"Uh…I guess we weren't exactly subtle with our conversation, huh. That kind of ruined all the plan's you had for the two of us."

"It doesn't matter now…"

"Hrm, she came to me and wanted to thank me for helping you and all…but, I don't exactly feel as if I've helped you at all…actually, it feels as if I didn't try hard enough and left you to suffer all alone…"

"Don't say that." The bruised girl said with some force. "I already have Ann feeling like that for me…I don't need another person to start feeling guilty for something that I should be taking care off by myself."

"But you are not taking care it at all Suzui-san." Shirou said bluntly, the girl winced at his words. "That bruise…and all the other bruises were all because you made Kamoshida angry, wasn't it? I found it weird about all the bruises you had and the way you acted whenever the volleyball practices subject was brought up…but I never thought it would come to this…so why keep quiet about it?"

"…" The girl wilted at the question.

"Suzui-san."

"…" She refused to respond as she just looked down.

"Suzui." Shirou repeated once more, worried crept up to him.

"…"

"Shiho!"

The way her name came out of his lips felt far to intimate, and Shirou found that he disliked it—only because it felt wrong to say her name like that under the situation they were in. Still, the girl finally reacted and looked up at him with watery eyes.

"…there's no point."

"What?" He looked at her in perplexation, but she shook her head and glared at the table between them.

"There's no point…no one would believe us if we told them that Kamoshida was abusing us. It doesn't matter how loud we would scream it, nothing is going to happen. Someone in the past tried to reveal what he was doing, but was quickly stopped by the school's principal. And after that? After the entire team saw how useless it is to try and tell someone over what the abuse? Kamoshida beat him down and just said that he got hurt in a volleyball practice whenever anyone asked. Even his parents believed that excuse and they took it as a sign of how tough national sports training is. Any of our parents are way too busy feeling proud and spreading gossip about how their children are going to become nationalist players to try and look at the problem deeper."

"…"

"We can't do anything…no matter what we do…any new student who joins the team gets gradually tore down until they are like the rest of us, living in fear. I was actually one of the few who didn't give in into Kamoshida's abuse…even when he cut the I could spend with Ann almost to nothing, because I know Kamoshida did that on purpose just to break me—and even still through all that I still kept going strong. I kept taking the punishments, I kept going just to give the team hope, I kept going and stood tall so that the rest that were suffering with me wouldn't fall and give up—but I was reaching my limit and everything he was doing was just too much…until you came along and helped me get back up to my feet."

"Suzui-san…"

She smiled at him sadly. "That's why I'm so grateful to you, I bet that Ann has already told you this, but I'm actually so thankful and happy for you giving me that spark to stand up to Kamoshida again, to not just lay down and take whatever he says as law, to not let myself get runover by him. I'm grateful for that, because that will have to be enough Emiya-kun. That's all I can do. That's all I could ever do."

"Suzui-san."

She continued. "Defying Kamoshida is impossible, what I did back in the rally? That was stupid of me…so, so very stupid of me, I shouldn't have done that at all, because I knew of the consequences. And stupid little me still did it and paid for it. Even Sakamoto and the new student went ahead to try and defy Kamoshida…but doing that just makes things worse. Questioning him, even a little is enough to make him get angry and when he gets mad…the best anyone, myself included, can do is just to endure he's anger, to not break…"

"Shiho." He once more said her name and looked at her with a sad frown.

"I…I…" She just looked at him, her body shivered, her lips quivered and tears rolled down her cheeks. The young man winced at the sight and looked away, hands tightened into fist. The mere sight of the girl was enough to bring anyone down—

But…

Shirou Emiya steeled himself and looked back at the girl with harden eyes.

"What do you want?"

Shiho froze, her brown tear stricken eyes focused on him. "…want?"

"What do you want?" He repeated once more.

"…I…"

"What do you want, Shiho?" For a third time, her name left his lips.

It was like a spark, as the moment her name reached her ears the girl's hesitation left her as her eyes brightened up with the same fire from the moment she defied Kamoshida back when she gave her team the victory over the coach's. She sat straight, leaned forward and nearly slammed her hands on the table as she glared spitefully at Shirou.

"I want him to stop! I want him to go away! I want him to just—to just disappear! I want him to stop abusing me! I want him to stop abusing my teammates!"

"…" Shirou nodded as the girl breathed heavily.

"I want…I want him to stop forcing Ann into having sex with him…"

"What?" But Shiho didn't even listen to his surprised and horrified words as she was focused on the way her emotions overflowed with hot anger and need.

Her glared intensify and the redhead flinched back as she released everything out.

"I want him to stop harassing the girls. I want him to stop making remarks about how inferior we are to men. But what I want more is for him to stop lusting after Ann. I want him to stop looking at her as if she was some piece of meat…I want him to leave her alone, I want Ann to confess that she's been playing his game just to help me…I want her to tell me how disgusted she! How annoyed she gets whenever he keeps on texting her or calling her just so that she would go out with him. I want her to admit that  **she needs my help!** " She paused and took a deep breath. "I want to admit all my problems to her too…I want to be stronger than this…I want to help my teammates…I just want…

I just want to have a normal school year where I can practice for volleyball and see Ann smile without worrying for me so much…"

She gasped in surprise when she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Shirou beside her. Without much thought, she threw herself on him and hugged him. The redhead stumbled back slightly, but wrapped his arms around the girl and consoled her. She just sobbed wetly on his black school blazer as he rubbed her back.

He turned back to the rest of the clientele around the diner. A few of them stared at them with disgust at the clear show of intimacy and emotion that interrupted their afternoon meal. Though, most of them chose that it was better they ignored the awkward moment between the two teenagers.

Shirou looked down at the girl, soothed her awkwardly as he did many times with Illya. He let out a sigh at the wave of memories and batted them away as he focused on the present. "Is that what you want?"

She nodded against his chest.

"Then I'll help you get all of that. I definitely do it."

Shiho pushed herself off him and shook her head. "No…you'll get into trouble! If you cross Kamoshida like that agai—!"

"I don't care." Shirou answered simply. "I already crossed him when I got you away from him. Now, all I have to do is go all the way through with this. So it doesn't matter what he does to me, as long as I can help you, it's fine by me."

"But…why?" Her genuine confusion at he's willingness to help her was enough to make him become even more determine, he refused to fail this girl.

"Because it's the right thing to do…because you are my friend and helping you smile isn't wrong." Memories of Illya filtered in and his resolved hardened. "I don't regret how I helped my little sister, I just regret that I failed to make her smile. I don't want that mistake to follow me wherever I go, I want to help you, I want to see you smile because someone like you deserves it."

"…" She just looked up at him in shock, he gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Also, because I really don't like seeing a girl crying in front of me."

Shiho just looked at him for a few seconds, then a giggled escaped her lips. The giggled turned into a full-blown laugh.

"W-When you say stuff like that it makes me think of you as a white knight or something."

The redhead smiled at her words. "Hmm, that's actually something that Takamaki-san said. Geez, it's like your friendship is on a whole other level, huh?"

Those words seemed to be the right thing to say, as Shiho just gave him the biggest and brightest smile she could possibly give.

.

.

.

.

— **Interlude** **—**

**The King's Lust**

_4/13 Evening_

"That piece of fucking garbage!"

Kamoshida roared with such fury and intensity that his face turned red with bulging veins all around his forehead and neck. The man shook his head, scratched his curly hair furiously as in another fit of rage he grabbed a colorful case with a DVD he had rented and was due by a few days now, he threw it as hard as he could to the wall near his bed. He heard the disc crack as the case crumbled down to the ground, but he paid it no mind.

"I fucking give that piece of shit of a punk the chance to be worth something and he repays my kindness by taking away my stress relief toy! Fuck that good for nothing waste of space! Damn it, damn it! And I was about to turn that damn bitch into a fucking woman! Fuck!"

The man threw himself towards the bed and ground his teeth in pure fury.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Damn that son of a bitch! Damn that retarded monkey and damn the other piece of shit! Fuck! And fuck that lazy whore of a teacher…fuck I can barely remember her fucking name! Fuck! What the fuck do those little shits think they're doing? Causing me more headaches than what I fucking deserve!"

He tapped his foot rapidly as he steamed in pure fury.

"Shit, fuck…" He took out his phone looked at the texts he had sent about an hour ago to Ann. The small icon that told him if his message had been view was still dark, much like the rest of his messages since Monday. "Fucking hell, what the hell you dumb cunt, don't you fucking ignore me…"

He flipped to the icon image of Ann and gritted his teeth, he looked down as he felt his pants tightened.

"Goddamn slut, who the hell does she think I am? I give her the opportunity to be the good little doll she's meant to be and she fucking denies me? Fucking whore should just submit to my cock…and I was so close to getting her to bend over for me too…but she, fuck, stupid cunt pulled back ever since that arrogant piece of shit Shiho started showing some backbone again."

He groaned, swallowed thickly as his pant tightened to an unbearable degree. He breathed in heavily—

He was horny, so incredibly horny.

He went to his photo gallery on his phone and pressed on a folder with a lock on it, quickly tapped the password and a slew of photos of Ann appeared. All of those photos were his, his as he went through the trouble to find them and to download them from her social media page. He licked his lips as he searched for the rows of photo of Ann in her bikini, whether from her modelling gig or selfies she took in the beach. Once he found the rows on the folder, he's hand went for his groin.

He gasped and gritted his teeth as he looked lustfully at the pictures with the bikini clad teenage girl.

He wanted her, he hadn't denied that simple fact ever since he had laid eyes on the exotic girl. He wanted the girl so much for how different she was from the rest of the plain Japanese girls at the school. He could have anyone and he knew it, but he wanted her specifically.

After all, a man of his stature deserved the unique ones only.

But she denied him, she denied his offer for her to be his little sex toy. In fit of rage, he retaliated by ruining her already shaky reputation further when he spread lies of her wanting to bed him. And the gullible students bought it up and just worsened the rumor ever since.

He had taken a special interest in Shiho, as he had learned that she was Ann's best friend. Another thing that made him noticed the girl was her talent for volleyball, had he been anyone else he would've felt pride at how she took his teaching—but he didn't feel pride, only irritation at her potential and some lust as he watched the girl play. Still, found some use out of the girl's talent and used it as a good excuse to pushed the leading volleyball player to the extreme, he hoped she would break and thus would force Ann to come to him with the offer of her body in exchange for Shiho's safety.

He frowned as he passed the images of the bikini clad Ann.

"Fucking bitch…why aren't you getting me off and worshiping my cock? After all the work I put to get you…"

Why hadn't he gotten what he wanted? He deserved to get what he wanted, he deserved to get Ann in his bed! It was his right!

It was  _he_  who had brought gold for Japan.

It was  _he_  who had received all the cheers, applauses and women wanting to serve their purpose as sex dolls for him.

It was  _he_  who was deserving off all the pleasures!

So why couldn't he have the one thing he wanted?

He stopped all actions, dropped his cellphone into the bed and glared up at the ceiling.

"I…was too nice…I was being  _too_  fair and this is what I get…a walking cunt denying me, a useless bitch defying me in the sport I reign supreme and three worthless garbage thinking that they can make a change in  _my_  school."

Well no more.

No more would he show any quarter to those useless peasants, he would demonstrate to each and every single one of them what it meant when someone crossed him.

No more would he be nice whenever to the team he had taken his precious time to train performed passable before his eyes, instead he would punish them just because they thought that they were worthy in  _his_  sport.

No more would he be patient when he deserved to relief himself with whoever he wanted, if Ann had caught his attention then he  _would have her_ in his bed or in his office.

Whether she wanted it or not.

He stopped short and let out an uneasy breath.

"What the hell…I'm jumping the gun here…if I do something like that…"

Physically abusing his students when he punched them or even when he let his hands roamed and groped the girls were things that no one could prove. After all, as a P.E. coach it was he's do duty to make sure his students would have the proper stances, so if he got a little physical, nothing could be done.

But if he actually went and forced girl into having sex with him—

He would go to jail.

He would go to jail if he went that far.

"Would I? It's not like anyone would believe some half-American, half-Japanese hybrid…they would just assume that it's her American side is making act like all the American do, like total sex starve idiots…"

And if he thought about it, if he did the same with any other girl then there was no way he would get caught. Right?

It wasn't like he would do it in a public place, he's office was private enough and no one would have questioned him if he started calling up girls up there. He already done that with both the boys and girls whenever he felt in the mood to let his fist fly.

"All I need is to tell that sniveling pig to clear the second floor of the Practice Building whenever I feel like relieving myself and I'll be golden."

Principal Kobayakawa would do anything for him, the man was so desperate to make his school be the best that he had let him beat on the students and harassed them just because his fame brought attention to Shujin Academy. In the eyes of the principal he was the school's shining, someone who could not be allowed to dimmed even slightly.

He grinned savagely as he felt his groin twitched in excitement and his hand went for it. Once more he's lust ran wild as he imagined everything he could do—No, everything he  _would_  do. He started to pump his hand.

Because it was his right—

"Tomorrow Ann, you're mine. I'll get you in my office and fucking break you, you stupid cunt. I'll break you, I'll make scream out my name, I'll make subservient to my cock!"

Because it was his right—

"Then it's the other defiant cunt, Shiho…I'll make sure to have the two best friends in my collection. I'll tear her defiance to pieces as I take Ann right in front her, yes…yes, that's just perfect! I'll make her realize the stupidity of going against me!"

Because it was his right—

"Then the lazy bitch, fucking tramp, how dare you go against me! I'll show you…I'll make sure to make that cute mouth of yours be useful for something instead of complaining all the damn time!"

Because it was his right—

He would do it, he knew he would do it. He had enough of not getting what he wanted. And those women looked so much better underneath him as they writhed in pleasure at his mere presence.

But it didn't just have to be those three. Ms. Chouno was another exotic looking teacher, but she wore to much makeup, though all that lipstick would look good smeared all over him. Ms. Usami, he couldn't wait to break and make the stoic teacher cry her eyes out.

Niijima, the stuck-up school council president was another who he had lusted for and wished to break. Her arrogant and serious prosecutor sister was definitely another one he wanted nothing more than to see broken before him, it was a dangerous gamble, but what could she do to stop him if her little sister was nothing but a drooling mess that needed him to give her pleasure just to live, right? The Okumura girl was another dangerous catch, she had a very powerful father and the banking of his food corporation that could pose a threat. But there was nothing to worry about, her father wouldn't deny an Olympic medalist like him and he could bet that he's fame would make the successful business man see reason.

He grinned, of course he couldn't be denied—

He was the King!

A gasp full of pleasure escaped him as he found released.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that interlude made me feel like vomiting, like literally that bit was disgusting. But it was necessary to set up the next chapter. I needed to give Shirou the final reason he needed to get involve in the mess that is known as Kamoshida and I think I did good with it.
> 
> Also, for those of you who have played P5 think I made Ryuji act out of character by how harsh he acted to Shirou and by how he believed in the rumors, you should remember that he thought Ann was with Kamoshida. He only began doubting the rumors after he calm down and thought about how weird it was by the next day.
> 
> Now onto some of the complains about last chapters Interlude, the only thing I have to say that is to calm down and wait for the chapter that will reveal everything. No need to take that interlude as the entire reveal. I deliberately left all the information out and only gave you all enough food for thought. If everything goes as planned then the entire truth will be reveal by chapter 7, so if you like the story and have stuck around up until now then do look forward to that. How I was going to portrayed the full reveal changed a lot now too.
> 
> I think this is good for now. I'm sick right about now, so it may take me a little while to get the chapters in a weekly basis. And there also the news of a hurricane potentially passing over Puerto Rico which would screw a lot of things, I just hope it doesn't come at all.
> 
> Though not to worry much as chapter six is half finished—cough, cough little spoiler ahead but the castle of lust has been stumble upon by a certain redhead—and that will be more action heavy. And liked I said already, story will finally be pushing forward.
> 
> I wonder how you will all take the Awakening...
> 
> As for the grammar, I'm trying to catch my mistakes. There are times were I'll catch a whole slew of grammar mistakes only for my eyes to have passed over others. And this happens when I read and reread the chapter. I've had difficulty with finding a spell-checker for whatever reason, but it would be helpful to have one. If some you guys or gals know of a good beta spell-checker or are one yourselves, I would be thankful if you hit me up.
> 
> Anyways, that's all folk! Please leave your thoughts and I hope you enjoyed the reading. Until next time, Adios!


	6. Broken Smiles: Part 3

 

_4/14 Morning_

"Hey, what was that about with the alarm yesterday?"

"Huh? That thing went off?"

"Yeah, it went off yesterday afternoon, but there wasn't any fire or anything at all! Isn't that weird?"

"Who cares about that stuff man?! Why did it have to sound off in the afternoon!? Why couldn't it have gone off during class!"

"Hey, did you hear about Emiya and Suzui? Apparently, they're dating!"

"Are you serious?! What the hell is that thug doing with the school's star player!"

"If that asshole cost's our school face with our volleyball games, I swear he'll pay!"

"Geez, that totally feels like out of a movie or something doesn't it?"

"Hey, I've been wondering, why aren't there any club activities today?"

Shirou walked towards Shujin Academy and sighed as his thoughts went back to yesterday.

To put it simply, it had been a draining day, both physically and emotionally. Although the latter was more from the fact that he had held and consoled a distraught Shiho. It had been somewhat awkward as everyone stared at them in the diner, but he had endured it and stood tall, allowing the girl to use him as her pillar of support. He had no regrets about that. Afterwards, he had walked her home in silence and left in the same silence. There was no need for words.

But his thoughts had all remained on a simple question.

_'What can I do to help Shiho and everyone else on the volleyball team?'_

He pursed his lips, glaring at nothing—he narrowed his eyes in focus when he caught sight of a familiar, frizzy haired student. He stopped mid-step when he recognized him as Kurusu, who stood by the school gates on his phone.

_'Wait…he's the one who was questioning the volleyball team yesterday… could I…?'_

Could he get him to help him? He and Sakamoto had apparently been aware of what Kamoshida was doing behind the scenes and weren't afraid to confront the situation.

_The face of a hurt and despairing Shiho stared right back at him._

They had caused more harm than anything else—but they were also the only ones who were actually doing something to help. Ann and Shiho's words coldly reminded him that no one would do anything against the well liked teacher. It was a cruel and depressing thought that in the seriousness of this matter, he had no allies, nor anyone with authority to help him out.

He sighed and nodded to himself, as he decided on the choice he needed to make.

There could be no regrets from here on.

"Kurusu?" He asked as he closed in on the young man. The dark haired student turned towards him, grey eyes widening slightly in recognition. Kurusu schooled his features, stood demurely and looked at him neutrally through his glasses.

"Yes?"

Shirou decided to be blunt about things, there was no need to sugarcoat the situation. "Kurusu, you were questioning the volleyball team yesterday. Were you asking if they were getting abused?"

Kurusu's eyes sharpened and he slouched back, his head tilted to the side as he now regarded him with his utmost attention. The redhead raised an eyebrow at the drastic change.

"Are you looking to stop me, Emiya?"

"No." He answered simply. He clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. "I need your help."

Kurusu titled his head toward the other side and let a small smirk cross his lips. "I knew you weren't a suck up."

"Suck up, huh? I guess the people in this school like to talk about me like that."

"It wasn't them that got me thinking of you like that. Ryuji had a few choice words about you and he had me convinced. Though don't blame me too much, he was the only one willing to give me any time of day." Kurusu said with a smirk as he put his hands in his pockets. "But what you did yesterday contradicted everything he said about you, you know?"

"What… what I did yesterday?" Shirou took a step back, had Kurusu witnessed him turning the alarms on?

Kurusu nodded. "Yesterday, you stood up to Kamoshida. You stopped him from taking that girl with the bruise on her face. What you did was good, you stopped him from hurting her further. It got me thinking that I was judging you unfairly after I saw that."

The redhead looked down at the response, somewhat in relief and in frustration. "I actually wished I could've done more to help her."

Kurusu smirked at him and nodded. "That's why you're asking for help... and I'm more than willing to give it."

Shirou looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Well… that's good. But what about Sakamoto? He probably doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Yeah." The frizzy haired student fixed his glasses. "Ryuji doesn't like you much. He saw you helping Kamoshida out on your first day here and assumed that you were sucking up to the guy. Not to mention that the rumors spread after that didn't help regarding his opinion of you. But I can convince him to change his mind about you."

Shirou nodded and looked determined. "Kurusu, I don't know when or how you found out about Kamoshida, but I was here a few days longer than you and I befriended someone on the volleyball team. It… makes me feel infuriated to not have noticed this sooner… I want to help Suzui-san, I really do."

Kurusu looked at him with approval. "Is this Suzui-san willing to help?"

The redhead was assaulted by the memories of yesterday's event. "Yes, she is."

"Then let's meet up on the classes building rooftop, afterschool. How does that sound?"

The redhead looked at him and nodded resolutely. "We'll be there."

Kurusu smirked and offered his right hand. "Then let's get this show on the road."

Shirou stared down at the hand, took it and shook it firmly.

* * *

_4/14 Afternoon, Afterschool_

"Ugh, the entire school just keeps talking about something that's not there. Why did Emiya-kun have to say it like that and so loudly too?" Shiho complained with a resigned expression. Her bruised eye squinting uncomfortably from the action. She shifted on the bench beneath her in the school's courtyard.

Ann didn't respond at all, her blue eyes focusing on the injury over Shiho's face. The dark haired girl noticed this and shifted the bruise away from her. The blond frowned, but replaced it with a fake smile.

"Yeah…but that's a sure way for Emiya-kun to get a date with you, huh?"

The girl scoffed and smiled. "He could have just asked, no—!"

Ann's worries for Shiho melted away for a second at Shiho's slip up and thunderous expression. "Oh, have you perhaps already fallen for him!? That's like one of my romances novels! The thug and top pristine student falling for each other!"

Shiho blushed and sent a small glare her way. "It isn't like that Ann, so don't you start pushing your cliché and trashy novels on my life."

"They're not so bad once you get past the fact that you've already read the same plot a couple of times before. It's a good way to waste time!"

"Hmm, you're just too lazy to look for the good ones."

"No I'—!" Ann's response was cut short when her phone rang loudly. She took it out and frowned as she saw the twelfth call from Kamoshida for the day.  _'What the hell is this bastard's problem! He's always sending me messages, not calling me so much and almost getting me into trouble!'_

"You're not going to answer that, Ann?" Shiho's voice snapped her out of her declining mood. The blond looked at her and forced a smile as she put the phone away.

"Nope, it's just some random number."

"Ah…" Shiho looked away, unconvinced by her response. Ann frowned at that and looked ready to assure her that everything was all right, but was interrupted when her friend's own phone started buzzing.

Ann's heart was gripped by fear as a thought she never wanted to entertain swept through her thouhts. Had Kamoshida grown tired of her little cat and mouse game? Had the man's infatuation with her diminished and was now targeting Shiho?

She swallowed deeply at that, as much as the man made her skin crawl, she wouldn't let him hurt Shiho. She would never allow for that to happen and she would make sure that it stayed that way. Even if she wanted to puke, she would try to catch the man's attention once more and alleviate Shiho of this burden. Even if she didn't say anything about her troubles with the volleyball practices. She wasn't dumb, nor was she blind. She was quite aware of how much the girl had suffered.

Emiya's concern for the girl made her feel relieved that someone else was out there who was willing to look out for her. So, she would be happy to leave it to him to make Shiho smile, while she took the burden. That was the way she was, and that was what she would do for the one and only person whom she deeply cared and loved.

Even if she hated every second of it.

"Emiya-kun?" Shiho's voice made her snap her head towards her in surprise. The dark haired girl looked confused, then surprised and finally understanding "Ah, I see, will it be alright? Then if it's no trouble I'll be there…don't worry about it."

So it had been Emiya that had called Shiho? A wave of relief flooded through her as she smiled happily. She could truly rely on him.

"Got a hot date to get back to?" She asked teasingly towards Shiho who pocketed her phone in her skirt and looked at her with a pout.

"Ann…" Shiho groaned and shook her head. Her face relaxed and looked down at her with concern. "I'll have to leave Ann, will you be ok?"

She just waved her off. "Duh, I'll just stay here for a little while and rest up before leaving."

Shiho nodded and smiled. "I'll give you a call tonight… and Ann?"

"Hm?"

"Be careful, and don't do anything I wouldn't do, okay?"

With that Shiho left Ann alone on the bench.

A minute passed and the blonde looked down with a frown.

"Sorry, but I can't… not if it means leaving you to suffer like that under Kamoshida…"

"To suffer under me? How cruel of you Takamaki-chan."

Her eyes went wide as the voice of the one man she wanted nothing to do with appeared. She looked up and saw the smug expression on the P.E. teacher's face, behind him was a hurt and bandaged student from her class, Mishima. The young man just looked down with a defeated expression.

She turned away from the broken boy with a cringe and answered the teacher's smug look with a scowl.

"What do you want Kamoshida-san?" Her voice was tight, but inoffensive. After all, she didn't want to get on the man's bad side.

"I want many things, but right now I need you to head over to my office Takamaki-chan." Ann surpressed a shudder that swept through her body. She could not help, but feel disgusted at how ugly the curly haired man's smile was when he said that. He turned towards Mishima who flinched. "Is the second-floor clear? I don't want any students wandering though there. Especially, after I went through the trouble of getting Principal Kobayakawa to lend the floor all to myself."

"… yes, sir…" Her classmate's meek reply could barely be heard, but the man nodded all the same. Even though he had turned away from him before Mishima had replied, he acted as if he was sure that his demands had been met.

"You, see? I want to have a private discussion Takamaki-chan, you know, regarding your friend. How about you come with me to my office?"

Ann held off a scoff at the arrogant way the man said that. She stood up from her seat, grabbed her bags and prepared to walk away.

"I'm sorry, but I'm busy right now. My agency ca—ah!"

Her words were abruptly interrupted when the man grabbed her shoulder roughly and pulled her towards him. The blonde winced at the treatment and opened her mouth to chew him out, but her protests died in her throat when she saw his eyes.

Kamoshida's dark eyes glared down at her with a paralysing intensity. They were filled with anger and something disgusting that was all aimed towards her. It made her freeze—

That was her greatest mistake.

"Oh, but Ann-chan…  _I insist._ "

.

.

.

.

"Hey, what was that about!?"

"What are you complaining about now?"

"I just got kicked out of the Practice Building's second floor. Even some of the teachers can't get in there!"

"That's weird…"

"I heard that it had something to do with Kamoshida. Apparently a very important meeting is taking place there."

"Really? Damn, I guess its fine if it's like that, but why not just go to the school's gymnasium?"

"I don't get it either. It's not like there's that many people at the school right now."

Shirou frowned at the gossip he had gathered. He placed his hands inside of his pockets and pulled out his phone out to check the time.

"Emiya-kun?" The redhead looked up and smiled at Shiho as she walked towards him. His eyes flickered towards her injury and he frowned. Shiho smiled reassuringly as she noted the expression. "Stop worrying about it already, it's fine."

"You say that, but…" He started to comment about how it wasn't fine, but stopped at her pointed glare. "Fine, fine. Sakamoto and Kurusu are waiting for us on the rooftop. We can talk about what to do with Kamoshida up there."

"You don't think they'll get into trouble, do you?"

"I think they already are, but I don't think they'll care either way. Kurusu seemed pretty sincere with wanting to help."

The dark haired girl smiled a little at that. "Huh, maybe he really is like you, hmm? A misunderstood rogue with a troubled past… wait... oh geez. I'm letting Ann's crappy novels fester in my head."

Shirou snorted at that, but then perked up as her sentence was fully processed in his head. "Wait, do you know where Takamaki is?"

"Huh? Yeah, I just left her after you called. Why?"

"Well, she's your best friend. So she should be apart of this too, don't you think? After what you told me yesterday, I thought you would want her to help us with this."

Shiho looked away with a pained expression. "That's… yeah, that's something that I would want to happen… I was just too much of a coward to tell her the truth. Even though she was just sitting beside me not even five minutes ago."

"Suzui-san…"

"No, Emiya-kun." She smiled at him. "I can't keep this bottled up inside and not let her know of what's happening... well I can guess she knows what's happening to me, but I don't want her to guess or assume anymore. I want her to know and I want her to tell me of her own problems. She told me she was going to stay and rest for a little while in the courtyard. So, I hope it wouldn't be too much trouble if…?"

"Not at all." Shirou answered with a smile. She nodded gratefully and lead the way back to the spot where she and Ann had been. The two walked in comfortable silence, until they reached the bench where the two girls had sat at. Shiho looked around with a frown.

"Oh, did she leave already?"

Shirou blinked and looked around in search for the blond. His golden-brown eyes caught sight of a navy-blue haired student that walked depressingly forward. His stance and mannerism of walking screamed meek, and the way his right cheek swelled from a fresh injury only made the student looked even more defeated. The redhead frowned at the clear sign of abuse and clicked his tongue.

"How is it that nobody's noticed something so obvious?"

"Huh…?" Shiho looked at him then followed his gaze and gasped in surprise. "Mishima-kun? Why is he…? Did Kamoshida ask him up to his office?"

"His office?" Shirou asked, but the girl ignored him as she walked briskly towards the boy. He frowned as he thought about the gossip he had managed to gather while he waited for Shiho, hadn't they said something about the second floor being cleared thanks to Kamoshida?

He shook his head and followed the girl up to the injured boy, who jumped in surprise and fear at their sudden appearance.

"Mishima-kun, are you alright?" Shiho asked concernedly, Mishima, took a step back as he watched her with wide eyes.

"I… I…"

"Mishima-kun, when did Kamoshida do this to you?" The way she asked the question was in pure resignation. The injured volleyball player let out a startled gasp as his eyes flickered towards him as he approached. The girl caught the look and just shook her head. "Don't worry about him, he already knows and is helping me."

"H-Helping you…?" Mishima questioned incredulously. "Are you trying to do what Sakamoto and Kurusu did yesterday… even after what he did to you?"

"Yes." Shiho nodded with conviction. "I've stood by for the longest time in silence. I have let Kamoshida humiliate and abuse all of us. But I won't let that happen, not anymore."

"Suzui…" Mishima looked down, he's facial expression morphed into one of guilt as he heard her words.

The girl payed it no mind and smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll figure something out, so please rely on me."

"…"

"Let's go Emiya-kun, I don't think Ann could've gone that far away." Shiho said back towards Shirou, who had stayed back and watched the entire affair. He nodded to her and turned to help her find her friend.

"T-Takamaki…" Mishima's voice caught their attention and the two turned towards him as the injured boy looked down at the floor with wide guilt-filled eyes.

Shirou narrowed his eyes in confusion at the behavior, while Shiho had an expression of concern on her face. "Yeah I'm trying to look for her Mishima-kun… have you seen her?"

Mishima looked at her with a pained expression. "Kamoshida took her to his office…"

…

Shiho froze completely and just stared at the boy as he quivered and breathed erratically. Shirou tensed beside her with wide eyes. Suddenly, Mishima's legs went limp and he fell to his knees.

"Kamoshida took me with him to make sure that the second floor was clear… he… he then went to Takamaki and forced her up to his office…he punched me and told me to get lost and… and… and…!"

But Shiho wasn't there any longer, nor did she hear what he had to say to finish his words. She just sprinted away, a horrified expression on her face.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no—!" She repeated over and over with the belief that if she said it enough times, whatever she had heard would be nothing, but a bad and tasteless prank.

"Suzui-san!" Shirou shouted at her in alarm, but she ignored it as she burst into the Practice Building. He turned back towards the downed Mishima who looked up at him.

"There's some volleyball players at the stairs so that nobody can get into the second floor…"

The redhead shook his head and ran after the girl. He got into the Practice Building and saw two volleyball players on the floor as if they had been knocked down. The two players looked up the stairs with worry. Before they could recover, Shirou ran past them and up to the second floor. Their surprised gasps and cries of warning going unheard as he ran to catch up to Shiho.

He rounded the corner and managed to catch up to the girl just as she slammed Kamoshida's office door open, but it refused to slide over.

"No, no, no, no—!" Shiho kept chanting as she tried to pointlessly open the door. The redhead was about to help her, but—

"Get off!"

"Shut the fuck up you stupid cunt! I'm the King of this stupid school and you're just my little fuck doll! So shut the fuck up!"

The moment she heard the outburst, Shiho began to shake, rage building up inside her as she heard those words. She went to rip the door off of its hinges, but gasped in surprise when out of nowhere, Shirou delivered a powerful and precise kick to the doors handle. She spared the young man one look as he grabbed his foot with a wince—

She turned back towards the office and gasped. "A-Ann!"

Kamoshida was on all fours over Ann, forcefully kissing her neck. He froze when the door had burst open, looked back in shock and his face flustered at being caught. His shirt off and pants nearly passing his knees.

Ann below him gritted her teeth in frustration as she tried in vain to fight against the larger man. Her jacket had been ripped off and her shirt had been pulled up to show off her bra-covered breast. The girl's eyes where filled with tears of frustration, fear and humiliation. She looked back at Shiho and Shirou with a pleading expression.

"H-Help me!"

Shirou eyes went wide and his heart was filled with an emotion he hadn't felt in while.

Rage.

"You—!" Shiho cried out in fury, but Shirou reacted faster as he charged towards the man. Kamoshida out of surprise and fear jumped off the girl, stumbling back due to his pants being around is ankles, which he quickly tried to pull up.

"W-Wait this isn—!" The man never got to finished the half-assed excuse he was about to make as before Shirou had even reached him, Ann retaliated with kick filled with hatred, hitting him right in his groin. The Olympic medalist dropped down like a puppet that had its strings cut. "Gyaaagh!"

Shirou skidded to a stop and watched as the man writhed in pain without any pity. Ann quickly crawled away from him with wide eyes. He focused on her, took her by the arms, but she flinched and tried to fight against his grasp. He dragged her back towards Shiho who had sprung into action after her shock and anger had worn on off and took the nearly violated girl in her arms.

"Ann are you okay!?"

"Shiho…! Shiho!" Ann looked at her friend and then broke into tears as the realization of what was about to occur to her finally hit her.

"That bastard…! That son of a bitch!" Shiho shouted in anger as she glared at the recovering teacher, who looked up at them with a grimace. Shirou stood in front of the girls and scowled at the man.

"Kamoshida… you're not getting away with this."

The man looked up at him with anger and growled. "You piece of fucking shit… who the fuck do you think you are!?"

Kamoshida jumped to his feet, his teeth bared as he lunged forward. Ann who saw the man's attempt to get to them in irrational fear let out a yelp and jumped back, causing her and Shiho, who held onto her, to fall down to the floor. The man's actions appeared like the raging animal he was and it frightened all tree of them.

In that moment, Shirou acted on instinct and grabbed the handle for the office door of the attempted-rapist and slammed it closed right in his face.

A huge bang echoed through the empty hall and the door to Kamoshida's office nearly fell off from the impact. Shirou looked astonished at his quick reflexes, but decided that now wasn't the time to think about it. He turned towards the girls who were breathing heavily from the stress and emotion.

"We need to go down now!"

Shiho snapped out of her stupor and turned towards her shocked friend. "Ann come on, we need to go."

The blond wordlessly let herself be pulled up by her friend as Shirou stood on guard and vigilant of the door. When the two girls were up, they began to move as fast and as far away from the door as possible. He moved behind them as they made their way for the stairs, they reached them and—

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Kamoshida's voice roared from inside his office and the somewhat busted door was ripped open violently. He stepped out with a hand on his face as he glared through a pained grimace.

"—!" Ann let out a wordless cry at the voice of her tormentor and tripped on the stairs that lead up.

"Ann!" Shiho went to help her, but Shirou gritted his teeth at the sudden stop. They needed to move and quickly—this stop spelled doom for them. He was about to turn and help, but froze when the man turned towards them and glared directly at him with sharp eyes. The teacher let his hand fall from his face to reveal his bruised and bloodied nose.

Kamoshida snarled at them, his eyes burning with fury as they bore into his own—flickering with desire as he looked at the terrified blonde on the floor and panic stricken Shiho who tried to get Ann on her feet.

 _'He's going to rape them.'_ Shirou thought as he came to the very depressing realization as he stared at the man.  _'He's stronger than me and he'll beat me down until I can't move…and then he's going to have his way with Suzui-san and Takamaki-san… and I can't stop it.'_

It filled him with disgust at the fact that this piece of trash of a man would've gotten away with it just because he was superior to him in a physical sense. He wouldn't be able to stop him and then the girls would've suffered through something that no one should ever have to go through. Even if the man was convicted and put into prison because he let his lust take over his better judgement, the damage he would've caused would leave a lasting, and near impossible to forget traumatic experience on two people that didn't deserve it.

_'This school is rotten, isn't it? How could anyone be this blind to that depraved monster over there? How couldn't they notice how disgusting he was?'_

He couldn't trust the school. Not right now, when his mind was filled with frustration and anger towards the man before him. The very man who was just steps away from committing rape. He needed to get his friends as far away from the school and he needed to do that now.

He had come to the realization that the energized and bright personality of the Ann that he had met yesterday would become that of a dampen and depressed girl. A former shell of what she used to be. All because of the lust and selfishness of one man.

He had seen what the result of molestation could do towards one of the happiest girl's he had known.

_"Onii-chan…"_

He didn't want to see what full blown rape could do to someone like that.

Conviction filled his heart and steel became his mind and without a single digit of hesitation, he turned around and grabbed the two girls by their shoulders.

"Let's go!"

He pulled the two girls up with him, they stumbled and they faltered in their steps, but they did not fall—for the two of them had also come to the very same depressing realization of what their fates would be if they remained. So, they let themselves be pulled as Shirou made a blind and mad dash to safety. Anywhere was safe, just as long as it was away from that man.

They ran up the stairs, reached the third floor and did not stop.

Shirou had heard the loud curses made by Kamoshida from the moment he had pulled the girls up the stairs. He had heard the smashing steps of the man as he took off after them.

He knew that the man was gaining on them, and if he caught them then it was over. The man would spin a tale that would put him in a favorable spot—and then Kamoshida would just place the blame of everything on him.

It didn't matter if such thing was just a stretch and that everyone would find this suspicious. His hyper-focused mind was busy with thoughts such as 'don't trust the school' and 'run to safety'. He was in flight response mode and he wouldn't stop—

He couldn't stop.

So, he turned sharply with the two girls in his hands and went up the stairs again. No one saw them on the third floor as it was somewhat empty, either because everyone else was too busy with their own activities or were too far away to hear the commotion.

He saw a door, let go of Shiho and rammed into it. The door opened and revealed the Practice Building's rooftop. He let go of Ann and the blond stumbled forward. He turned back sharply, passed a distraught Shiho who went to help her friend who had fallen and slammed the door closed. He latched the lock on it, looked around and found a table, which he quickly grabbed and placed it in front of the door as an extra precaution to make sure Kamoshida couldn't enter.

Shirou breathed heavily and turned towards Shiho and Ann, with a concerned look. "Are you two all right?"

The blond had her eyes closed as she breathed in heavily. Her exposed top made him cringe and he took out his blazer. The dark hair girl noticed the action, nodded thankfully and took the blazer, draping it over Ann who hugged it tightly over her body instinctively. Shirou took out his phone and started looking for the call app, now that his mind was calming down he knew that he needed help.

_'Should I call the police? Or…maybe Maiya…yeah, I think it would be better to talk with her first.'_

As the young man debated over his next course of action, Shiho hugged Ann with a concerned look on her face. "Ann, are you okay?"

The blond shook and bared her teeth in fury. "He didn't rape me… he didn't rape me, I didn't let him! He threw me down and forced my cloths away…but I didn't let him rape me!"

Shiho nodded and hugged her closer. "Yeah, Ann you didn't… you didn't let him do that to you. You're strong, you're so strong Ann! You pushed that bastard away and stopped hi—!"

She was cut off when the rooftop's door was hit loudly and violently. Shiho tightened her hug around Ann to protect her, as she jumped in her friend's arms. Shirou had been caught off guard as he was about to call Maiya and let the phone drop. He ran up to the door and made sure to press himself against it to keep it shut. He stared at the girls and at the dread that just grew inside of their eyes—at that moment he understood as fact that the door could not be allowed to open.

"Open up!" More blows barraged the doors as Kamoshida's voice came through.

"You actually think that's going to happen?" The sarcasm that spewed out the redhead's mouth surprised even him. It was not something he was accustomed to doing—but he returned his focus to the matter at hand as the door was struck in succession with powerful blows.

"Open the damn—!" The man's demand was cut off as he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He then continued in a calmer, negotiating tone. "Ugh…listen, how about you open this door and let's talk about this like sensible adults?"

Ann flared up at the words. "Screw you, you son of a bitch! You're just a loser who enjoys raping girls half your age and thinks he's a king! So go to hell you creep!"

More and more bangs came after that, the barrier between the three students and the attempted-rapist rattled violently.

"Open this fucking door now!"

"You… you really are a monster!" Shiho piped in, her voice hot as righteous anger filled her. "You abused us, every single student in this school! You hit all of those that stood against you! You harassed the girls and made us feel as if we were nothing but sex objects! But… but this time you went too far! You think you're going to get away with this Kamoshida!? Well you aren't!  _You're_ going to pay, for everything  _you've_  done! For every single blow and for every single humiliation!  _You_  think you're some kind of king or something? That this school is  _your_  castle where you can do whatever  _you_  want!? Well… I'm about to destroy  _you_  and  _your_  castle for what  _you_  did to Ann,  **YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF SHIT!"**

"…"

There was silence for a few seconds, and the three students glared at the door in anticipation. Then a roar came from the other side and the door was hit with enough force that the table that had been put there to keep the door shut, had been pushed back and scraping the roof's floor.

Ann and Shiho all jumped in surprise at the act of violence. Shirou backpedaled towards the girls as more hits assaulted their only form of protection. Shirou looked down and noticed that he had stepped on his cellphone and he could see that the screen had become a reddish tinted color with an eye. He picked it up and tried to get rid of the activated app so that he could make a call, but his efforts were in vain as the red eye app refused to go down.

"Don't you talk to me like that! After everything I did for you!? This is how you repay me!?" The door shook more and more with each word as it was being pushed off its hinges. The three teens panicked as their barrier was about to be broken down by the angry man. "It's because of me that you brats can even attend this damn school! And you think you can treat me like this!? You think some thug can just come in a take away what's mine!? That some blonde bimbo can tell me no!? That you can open that big stupid mouth of yours and defy me, Shiho!? I'm the star of this school, not you! I'm it's future, not any of you! Shujin Academy only exists because I let it exist."

Shirou felt a sudden relief as the reddish app pulsed and finally disappeared, just as he was about to search for the call app—

**"Candidate found, beginning navigation."**

"Huh?" Shirou questioned as the girls just two feet behind him glared hatefully at the nearly caved in door. Suddenly a throbbing pain coursed through his head. "Gah—!"

"Ahh—!"

"Wha—!"

The three students held their heads as the world around them became distorted.

"What the—!? Shirou surprised grunt went unfinished as everything around them disappeared. Shiho looked around in distress as the air rippled out of focus.

"What's happening!?"

Ann held on tighter to her friend as the school rooftop began to fade away. "Shiho… don't let go, please!"

Shiho responded in kind. "I won—!"

She never got to finished as she disappeared from reality, along with Ann and Shirou.

Not even a second later the door was kicked opened and a raging Kamoshida stormed through.

"You brats are going to pa—uh? Where did they go!?" The teacher questioned as he looked around in confusion. Fear filled him and he ran towards the fence of the rooftop and looked down to see if the teenagers had jumped down. He found nothing down below. He gritted his teeth and scratched his head in confusion. "What the fuck!?"

The man never noticed how on the rooftop of the Class Building two student outcasts saw the entire thing and had started to run down the steps with a black cat in tow.

All that Kamoshida could do was wonder what had happened.

.

.

.

.

—?—

"—'t let go Ann!"

Shirou grunted as he looked around. Apprehension and confusion filled him as the sky and cool air of the afternoon disappeared completely, replaced instead with a musty atmosphere, and darkened room. The redhead squinted his eyes at the bizarre phenomenon and turned towards the blond that was being held tightly in the hands of Shiho.

"Are you two okay?"

The girls looked up, Ann held onto her dark haired friend tighter and gritted her teeth in anger as fresh tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Shiho looked down at her and sighed as she wiped her friend's tears away and adjusted his blazer over her upper body. Ann smiled shakily up at her friend and hugged the blazer closer to her body in comfort.

The dark hair girl looked back up at Shirou and nodded. "We're okay…but, where are we?"

"I don't know…" He answered honestly as he looked around and caught sight of the big cabinets, queen size bed, statues and heart tinted blinders that barely allow for the kaleidoscope-like light to pour in. "But this isn't the school rooftop at all."

"…didn't your phone say something?" Shiho remarked as she gestured with her head towards his cell. Shirou looked down at the device in his hand with a confused look.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything? This doesn't explain how we went from the school rooftop to this dark room."

"M-Maybe it's like those anime's where you can go in different worlds or something…" Ann said with a bitter tone as she smiled spitefully.

Shirou looked at her, then his eyes flickered towards Shiho. She shook her head and looked back at the girl in her arms. Her expression broken as she stared at how her cheerful friend had been reduced to what was before her. "Ann are you okay?"

The blond glared at the tiled floor and bit her lip. "…"

"Ann…"

"… Shiho… I…"

"Ann…" Shiho cupped her friend's chin and forced her to look up. The blond flinched slightly at the touch and the dark haired girl let go as if burned. With a grimace she continued. "Please Ann… no more not telling each other what our problems are, okay? I can't… I can't…"

Shirou looked away, awkwardness burned on him at the sight of the private moment. Instead, he focused on inspecting their surroundings with a raised brow.

Ann looked at her friend's pained expression and tears came out of her eyes as she smiled. "Guess we screwed up… huh? I always told myself that I could protect you like you did for me… that if I managed to do it without giving you any more burdens then it would be okay…"

"Ann, you would've never been a burden to me…"

The blonde gave her an awkward grin. "I knew you were going to say something like that, but I wanted so hard to protect you, to give you that shot you always wanted at being a volleyball nationalist… but he just kept coming at me… he just kept hinting at how he would make your practices even worse… he kept telling me how you couldn't handle much more of his practices… and all because I refused to go out with him…"

"Ann…"

"He told me… he told me while he was trying to… rape me. That fucking son of a bitch said that if I didn't let him rape me then he would just go after you and that there was nothing I could've done to stop him! I couldn't let him… I just couldn't…"

"Ann don't say that! Don't ever say something like that!" The blond shrank away from her fuming friend as she gave her a pained looked. "… don't say something like that Ann… please don't…"

"Shiho…"

"I've been trying to keep that bastards' eyes away from you for the longest time… but I failed… so please don't say something horrible like that ever again…please don't say that you would let…"

Ann brushed her eyes roughly with her arm and looked away with a small smile. "Anytime I've thought of it, it seemed so easy to just…I don't know, scream at him, threaten him, slap him, kick him in the balls…but I just froze up and he was so strong…"

"… He'll pay, Ann."

"I know…"

Shiho hugged her tighter and let tears fall from her eyes as she glared with hate at the far-off wall. "I'm just so glad that we managed to stop it before he… before he…"

"… I know."

"I'll protect you Ann, always… I won't let him hurt you anymore…"

"… those should have been my words…but I guess I screwed up way to badly for that, huh?"

"Ann…" Shiho pulled back and gave her friend a fragile look. The blond just responded with a small smile.

"But I won't stop…I know I screwed up. I know I can't be as good as you Shiho…but I won't stop trying to help you out whenever I can… you're the only person I really care about in this entire city, Shiho. So I won't—I can't stop trying my best to protect you."

"Idiot…" Was all Shiho said as she pulled the girl back into a hug and rested her head on top of the blond mop of hair. Ann just wrapped her arms around her and took comfort in her presence.

Shirou looked at them from the corner of his eyes as he went for the large door. He averted his gaze and sighed, it was very awkward to be part of such of a touching moment—a moment that he understood he didn't belong with.

He let a sigh escape him as he walked toward th—

The large lavish door suddenly burst open and Shirou barely had time to gasp in surprise as two sets of wet, amphibian tentacles sailed through the air and wrapped around him tightly.

"Graa—!" His grunt of pain failed to come out as the tentacles tightened around his body in a near bone-crushing grip. The air left him, his mouth screamed soundlessly and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"—ah! What the hell is—!?" Ann screamed as she watched the redhead's pain.

"Shirou!" Shiho tried to stand up, but the blond unconsciously gripped her friend hard in her fright at the abnormalities and stopped her. The redhead was dragged out of the room with a quick and painful pull. "SHIROU!"

The dark hair girl's concerned roar seemed to have beckoned two more sets of twisted, drooling tentacles to appear through the door. Both girls froze as the long twitching limbs loomed ominously over them. The two tentacles then darted towards the two-petrified teenage girls.

"No, no—!"

"Ann!"

.

.

.

.

In a darkened room, blood flowed down like a river.

Easy and freely from the pile of corpses scattered throughout the room.

Every piece of expensive and lavished furniture was stained and damaged beyond words.

A single man stood in the middle of this carnage calmly, in comfort and enjoyment. His tall body straightened up and he looked back.

Two bulging eyes stared around curiously.

"Could this be... you, ooooo my dear Saint... has your true reincarnation come to this world?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTE
> 
> Hey wanted to release this chapter back in the 6th, but my power got kicked in the curb before I had even chance to release it thanks to Hurricane Irma! But here it is!
> 
> Chapter had to be split into two for again getting to long and again for the hurricane.
> 
> Anyways, got a new beta that's helping with the spellchecking. Crossovernaru, thank you!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and until next time!


	7. Broken Smiles: Final

**Beta by Crossovernaru**

* * *

 

Shirou blinked through heavy eyelids, as he slowly regained consciousness. He groaned as he noticed that his body felt trapped and in pain. His left cheek felt cold, and when he finally opened his eyes, he realized that it was because he was face down on the lavishly tiled floor. His eyes darted rapidly left and right in alarm. He caught sight of red curtains covering the walls, making the room glow red with an erotic vibe. He groaned uncomfortably as he caught sight of the weird sexual devices scattered around the room.

He looked down at the tentacle that was wrapped around his body, stifling a gasp as he felt it squirm and twitch.

 **"So, this is the impostor that is posing as the princess?"**  A muffled gurgling voice asked. The redhead immediately tensed as he tried to look behind from where he heard the strange voice.

 **"Yes, we determined that her appearance was a lie as she failed in her duty as a woman when she dared to reject the King's love. The other woman is disgusting, for she dares to dress up in the same image as the rebel who fell before the might of his majesty."**  Another similar voice informed his companion. **"The impudent peasant there, he's the worst of the bunch, for he betrayed his majesty's expectations."**

He groaned and ignored the voices commenting about him and the girls. He struggled fruitlessly against the bonds that held him as he looked around to try and find the girls. He managed to catch a small glimpse of Shiho and his desire to break free burned with fervor. After a while, Shirou stopped struggling, as the tasked seemed impossible. Instead, he chose to trace the bizarre and wet limb back to its source, midway he saw that the tentacle had been stabbed by two spears to keep it in place and—

Shirou froze as he saw the tentacle's point of origin. The sight nearly made his stomach drop at the twitching mass that was behind the steel cage.

It was a creature the likes of which he had never seen before. That thing could've only existed in the deepest depths of the ocean or in the mind of the most twisted person. It was just a mass of tentacles, that twitched and writhed excitedly, and a round mouth. The mouth was filled with rows and rows of sharp and pointy teeth that wouldn't let go of their prey and would grind their victims down to nothing, but a bloody mush if someone was unlucky enough to fall into their 'gullet'.

Fortunately, the cage had the thing trapped and it was sturdy enough that it made sure to keep it that way. Only a handful of its limbs had enough freedom to move and slip through the bars. Four of which had him, Shiho and Ann captured.

Shirou took a deep breath, as he felt the blood drain from his face when he saw the creature drool hungrily at him.

"Emiya-kun… are you okay?"

His eyes widened at the familiar voice. He craned his neck upwards to look at Shiho and he caught sight of her confused, worried and fearful expression. Beyond her, he also saw Ann. The girl flinched as the tentacle shuddered violently, forcing the blond to let out a small whimper as she tried to wiggle herself free. He gritted his teeth, ready to assure her that everything was okay and to promise the blond that he would get her out—

**"Humph, so these pieces of garbage have finally awakened."**

The three teenagers froze at the disdainful and disgustingly familiar voice that regarded them. The redhead turned his head and stared in shock as a man in brown sole shoes, a pink speedo and cape plastered with hearts with a small golden crown atop of curly black hair swaggered forwards with a sneer on his face. The man turned fully towards them and grinned as he stared at the two bound girls.

His leering yellow eyes made all of them feel a cold chill down their spine.

"Kamoshida!" Shiho grounded out, anger fueling her as she stared at the man who nearly raped Ann.

"Y-You son of bitch…w-w-what are you…?" Ann's voice whimpered as she caught sight of the man who had tormented her. Shirou turned his head towards the shaking blond. Baring his teeth, he resumed his struggle against the grip the tentacle had on him.

Kamoshida just grunted in disgust at the words.  **"How dare you refer to your King in such a manner! Disrespect like that warrants an execution!"**

Shirou's eyes went wide in shock at the words. Execution? What was this man even playing at?

No, it didn't matter, he was just exerting his ego about being a king… he understood what those words meant. He was going to beat them and then rape them—

He couldn't let that happen.

"Leave them out of this Kamoshida! If you want to take your anger out on someone, then do so with me!"

The man who fancied himself a king froze, then turned slowly towards him with a furious expression.

**"What did you say you piece of shit?"**

"I said to leave them alone!" Shirou repeated with narrowed eyes. "If you wan—!"

 **"Guards!"** Kamoshida interrupted loudly as he looked at something beyond the redhead's field of vision.  **"Get the restraints off of the Hentai Beast."**

Shirou stared incredulously at what the man had said, the king wannabe just sneered at him. He was about to respond towards the almost naked teacher's bizarre words, but stopped when he heard metallic steps thundering near him.

He turned his eyes to the side just in time to see an armored foot crash down near his face. He went crossed-eyed as he stared at the tip of the armored foot and looked up to see a man dressed up in silver knight armor. The knight looked down at him, it's cold and expressionless face shaped helmet made the redhead shiver at how creepy and lifeless it looked.

Behind the knight an identical armored man walked forward, his thundering steps echoing until he finally stopped and grabbed the spears that kept the tentacle in place. The other knight looked at him and tore both weapons out—

"—Whoah!" Shirou grunted when suddenly the long, wet limb shuddered violently and started thrashing around. He was taken off the floor and then tossed like a rag doll through the air by the powerful pulls of the limb. The air left him with each pull, and he felt his bones creek and shake. He was fearful that from the way the tentacle was tightening around him, it would make him vomit his organs out. The tentacle then curved up and slammed him headfirst against the ceiling—hard. "Gaagh—!"

His vision went dark for a couple of seconds, and he felt something wet and sticky roll down his head. He could distinctly hear the cries of worry from Shiho and Ann. Unfortunately, he couldn't confirm it in his current state. He was dizzy and his vision grew darker with each hit. He was only aware of the tentacle that was crushing him in its deadly grip and the way his body was being dragged through the air. He cried out as he felt his body jerk forward and crashed against something hard and cold. It was there that his vision began to clear—

He regretted that it did as he was met face to 'face' with the tentacled creature.

"—!" Shirou gasped in fear as the monster lunged forward and crashed against the cage, its mouth opened wide and ready to eat him. He pulled back with a scared expression as the creature's teeth nearly pierced his face. Spit and dribble splattered on his face and he had to hold back from recoiling as it felt that his skin was melting from the strange substance.

"Graagh—!" He grunted in effort, bending his body unnaturally backwards just to try and prevent himself from being pulled into the cage and eaten. He bared his teeth as the tentacle tightened its hold on him even more and slowly squeezed the air out of him.

He wasn't going to hold…

He was about to die—!

 **"Enough! Cut off my Hentai Beast's arm off…** " Kamoshida voice called out with sadistic glee.

Shirou opened his eyes as he stared at one of the knights approaching him. It raised a sword—he panicked and closed his eyes—and swung it down, severing the creature's tentacle. He flopped down onto the ground, the cut-off limb tightened up around him.

Not a moment later, Shirou felt the wet and harmful appendage being ripped off of him, only to be replaced by the cold and dead feeling hand of the armored knight. He was forcefully pulled up to his feet and roughly pushed forward. He stumbled and fell to his knees right before the grinning king. The redhead's breathing was haggard and his heart pumped at insane speeds as he tried to regain control over himself.

He gritted his teeth in frustration and looked up at the sneering Kamoshida.

 **"I should've let my beast eat you up. That's what a retarded piece of shit like you deserves for what you have done to me."**  The man spat out as he grabbed the redhead by his neck with one hand and lifted him up until his feet dangled in mid-air. Kamoshida looked up at the girls with a perverse gleam in his eyes as Shiho stared at him with fury and Ann bared her teeth in hate at her near-rapist.  **"But I have other ideas for you actually…"**

"You son of a bitch, were you the one who sent us into this place?!" Shiho raged out towards the man. Kamoshida just grinned savagely in response, his hand squeezed Shirou's neck which brought a pained gasp from the weak and injured young man.

 **"Now why would I want trash walking all over my castle? It's you walking cunts and this brain dead retard that walked all over my property. And you dare get angry with me?"**  Kamoshida questioned incredulously.

"Go to hell!" Ann roared this time, her fear for her tormentor being replaced by her hatred for him. "You're still going on about being a king you piece of shit! Why don't you grow a brain you arrogant waste of space!"

Kamoshida gritted his teeth at her words.  **"You…"**

"OOOoooo… could this… could this truly be her…?" An unknown voice questioned. It spoke with a drawl and sounded eerily like that of a performer. The room seemed to drop some degrees as the sound of distant footsteps came closer. "Could this be the reincarnation of the Holy Maiden…? Is this the one from the true world and not that dribbling parody that you have conjured into being, Master?"

Kamoshida turned back and looked at the shadows in the corner of the room with a raised brow. "Ah, my Court Wizard how very weird it is to see you out of your play room? Did these peasants catch your attention, hmm?"

From the shadows emerged a bizarre man, dressed in garments that were odd and queer. His luxurious robes were of ancient design with sanguineous scarlet patterns that adorned the pitch-black fabric. The dyed crimson red on the clothing looked more like blood stains rather than just any design choice, and the smell only helped to confirm that point. The figure walked, or more like glided forward as his robe obscured his feet. The man was incredibly tall with two pale arms that stuck out of his clothes.

His features were dreadful, and his skin was sickly pale, like a corpse. However, his large and bulging eyes told a different story. They stared down with freakish focus at Ann, making her recoil back, as she glared at the bizarre man. Said man seemed to have taken this as a good sign as he gave her a smile that was worthy of a saint.

"OOOOoo…" The bizarre wizard squirmed at the sight. "It is truly her! That appearance of hers, there is no mistake that it is my Saint!"

Kamoshida just looked at the man with an expression of disbelief. He then snapped his fingers as he stared to the side.  **"You mean this pathetic excuse of a woman? How can you call that a holy woman and not my Princess?"**

"Kamoshida-kun~!" A ditzy girl's voice called out and ran up to the man. Dressed in a skimpy bikini, she threw herself onto him and hugged him. Her exaggeratedly large breasts squishing against his body and her lips peppered his chest with kisses. She turned around to reveal—!

"M-Me!?" Ann cried out in indignation as she watched her look alike look down at her. "Are you that desperate you son of a bitch?!"

"The only desperate one here is you~! You're like, totally the one who told Kamoshida no when he was trying to shove his big and manly, manly D up our puss~" The ditzy doppelganger mocked and her chest bounced with each movement she made. Kamoshida grinned lustfully as he fondled her breasts.

"What… is this? Kamoshida, you're a sick bastard!" Shiho grounded out as she struggled to free herself from her bonds.

"OOOooooo, this spirit… yes, this the spirit of the Holy Maiden, such righteous anger!" The bizarre man crooned as he watched the real Ann with a smile. The blond shrunk back at the intensity of the look.

 **"Huh, Bluebeard, are you really that desperate to have that holy maiden of yours back? Listen, I don't have any problems sharing my Ann with you."**  Kamoshida said as he brought the ditzy blond forward, who giggled at the mistreatment.

The court wizard gave the teacher a stony face and shook his head. "How could I possibly bring the memories of my Holy Maiden back with that broken doll you keep around? How can you possibly compare the most holy of saints to that drooling pig who lacks the radiant light that could pierce through the thickest of darkness? No, no, no, no, no! A broken doll like her cannot possibly reach such light like that! But this one… her cleanliness, her cuteness, her modesty, her purity…! She has it all! It is because of that that I must have her…!"

The wizard screamed with joyous abandon as his arms pulled towards the air. Kamoshida just shook his head.

 **"Holy shit, what an insane wizard I have in my castle, but your usefulness is too great to be ignored. So I can forgive your lapse in sanity."**  He then brought the doppelgänger Ann closer to him and grinned. **"But if you want to have that pathetic bitch, then go head, I already have my princess here. Do whatever the hell you want with her!"**

"Ooh~! Kamoshida-kun, you're like, totally the manliest man ever!" The ditzy blond crooned happily. Ann bristled at that, her lips curling up into a snarl.

Kamoshida was about to say something, but stopped—and looked down in shock at the hand that had been placed firmly on his forearm.

Shirou gripped the arm that effortlessly held him up in the air by his neck. His grip was hard and it surprised the man to feel the strength even though he looked pale and out of air. The redhead bared his teeth and glared at him all the same.

"You're… you're pathetic Kamoshida…"

 **"…What?"**  The surprise on the man's face melted into a blank expression.

"You're pathetic Kamoshida…" He repeated, his golden-brown eyes fired up greatly in defiance for the man who had tormented his friend and had nearly raped someone in selfish abandon.

Kamoshida stared at him with those unearthly and cold yellow eyes for a second. Then he threw the ditzy blond towards the floor and—!

 **"YOU RETARDED FAGGOT!"**  The roar that came from the 'king' was ear shattering, as his face contorted into an animalistic snarl and unleashed a devastating punch to Shirou's face.

"Ghoa—!" Shirou's entire head shook, his jaw fell loose and blood poured from his mouth and nose. Before he could even recover from the blow, he received another powerful punch.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And one final blow that had him rolling across the floor, sliding painfully and leaving a smear of blood on the floor in front of Shiho and Ann. The two girls watched in horror as the redhead lay limp on the tiled floor. Shirou coughed up blood and had difficulty breathing with his now broken nose from which blood gushed out like a fountain.

"SHIROU—!" Shiho's horrified scream made Shirou open a single eye and stare at the distressed girl through his now swelling and bloodied face.

Kamoshida shook his fist and glared hatefully at the fallen young man. He spat in his direction and stared at the wizard beside him with a huff. He scratched his curly hair furiously as he ignored the ditzy blonde that giggled perversely as she crawled toward his legs.

**"Bluebeard, you're French, right? Your full name is Gilles de Rais, I think I read about you in some book or something… anyway what's the name of this saint you want to bring back?"**

The man, Gilles, looked at him with those bulging wide eyes and a stoic expression. "Joan of Arc, the Saint of Orleans, Master."

Kamoshida nodded and waved dismissively. "Yeah, her. Listen I'm more than willing to help you with this endeavor of yours to bring that woman back."

Gilles turned towards the man, his mouth agape in surprise. "Would you truly help me with this desire of mine, my Master?"

**"Of course, you were always spouting about wanting to see that saint after you saw my princess. And as it so happens, right now, I'm in a very helping good mood so I'll help you out… in fact, I dare say that I know of a way on how to bring that saint of yours back!"**

The wizard looked down, clasping his hand together and answered with a sincere expression. "My Master, you truly are a king worthy of your crown!"

 **"Damn right!"**  Kamoshida grinned as he looked at Ann with a smoldering look.  **"Now as to how we get that failed woman over there to reveal her true self… is by raping her of course!"**

"What!?" Ann screamed in pure horror as the atmosphere grew heavy around her.

"Kamoshida! Leave her alone!" Shiho struggled once more against her bonds and bared her teeth in fury. She went unnoticed as Gilles looked questionably at the king.

"But my master, how could this possibly help return Joan to me…? By raping her, we would be robbing her of her purity, her cleanliness!"

 **"Bluebeard, Bluebeard…"**  Kamoshida shook his head in something akin to disappointment and patted the bulging eyed man in the cheek affectionately.  **"You are a horrible monster who has made the suffering of people second nature. There could be no better person than you to understand how a man truly feels when faced with those blasphemous acts that you're so fond of implementing in them just to bring out their terror and the most horrible aspect of themselves… but you still don't understand what is needed to bring out the best in a woman Bluebeard-kun."**

Gilles leaned in forward with a tilted head, his curiosity now peaked by his words. "What could this be my Master?"

 **"Rape, is the best way to bring out what lays in the inside of a woman…"**  Kamoshida looked down with a smug face at Ann who was sweating in panic at the lustful eyes of the man.  **"Make them writhe in pleasure and you will bring out a surge of happiness, rage, indignation and emptiness! How can you possibly say to me that raping her would rob her of her purity when you are in fact enhancing it further!"**

"AAAAAAaaah—!" The wizard leaned back as if reeling from realization. Kamoshida grinned even wider at that and continued.

 **"Listen to me Bluebeard-kun! We can make her even cuter after we're done with her. We can make her become even purer, more clean after her entire body has been soiled! Can't you see that we have the power to bring out the best qualities in a person by implementing the worst actions on them! You're Joan will come back, even better than before! Ever after all of this! Isn't that why God made women? For us men to bring out the best of them with our authority and power?! So, don't hesitate, there's no need for it in my castle! Let's go and bring your friend back**!"

"OOOOoooo—! Aaaaa! Kamoshida-kun, how insightful! Yes, yes! If the best of a person can be ruined and destroyed by the horrors this world has to offer, then it should be obvious that the best way to bring the best of humans is by introducing them to horror once more!" Gilles turned towards Ann and gave her a genuine smile.

"G-Get away…!" The blond recoiled back, but the tentacle around her prevented from moving.

"Don't worry my dear old friend. I will resurface those memories held deep within…" The wizard then grinned in joy as a book covered in human skin materialized in his right hand and his bulging eyes lightened up with ecstasy. "By putting you through every sacrilegeous and cruel mistreatment that exists upon your body!"

"W-What!?" Ann gasped as Gilles grinned and opened the book. The tentacle around her body writhed excitedly and dragged her towards him. "What!? No, no, no! Get the hell away from me you creep!"

"ANN!" Shiho desperately cried at the obvious sign of danger her friend was being dragged towards.

"SHIHO! No, no, no, get away from me!" The blond struggled fruitlessly as she neared the wizard and king.

 **"Good, good, Bluebeard! We'll bring that friend of yours back in no time! After that you can do whatever you want with her, and the other two as well."** Kamoshida said as he waited patiently for the blond to reach him.

"But of course, Kamoshida-kun." Gilles replied cheerfully, as he held the book up and five more tentacles sprouted out from it. As they slithered closer towards the now petrified girl, she began to succumb to her despair. Realizing her struggle was futile, she just stared right ahead with wide eyes. "They are your enemies, so I'll be sure to repay you for this incredible service by having their screams echo through the castle for days!"

 **"Ghihihihihihihihihi!"**  The king laughed hysterically at that and nodded happily.  **"Yes, yes very good!"**

"No…" Ann leaned back as the five tentacles reached her. The appendages around her body loosened up and let her go—but the girl had no time to gasp in surprise at her freedom or even feel any relief as the five slobbering limbs caught her by her arms, legs and neck. Ann could do nothing but look down at the ground in defeat and shiver in fear as she was brought forward.

"ANN!" Shiho roared once more as she struggled violently against the tentacle around her body.

Shirou bloodied and barely conscious looked up to where the blond was, but only saw the vicious grin on Kamoshida's face and the excited gleam in the bulging eyes of the wizard. He growled furiously at that and tried to move.

_— need to save Ann now!_

Unfortunately, he failed in his objective, as his body was far too weak from the thrashing the monster had given him earlier and his head felt as if it was going to burst open from the beating the insane man had delivered. He could do nothing but lay there on the ground in defeat.

_—need to save Ann now!_

By now Ann had stopped resisting and screaming her defiance, as she began to accept the futility of her situation. She had given up, she had stopped—she had accepted what was going to happen to her. But he hadn't given up yet, even if his face was broken and his body failed to obey his commands.

_—need to save Ann now!_

So even if his body was broken… even if his body failed to answer the call for action… he couldn't let that girl suffer… his father said to never make a girl cry… he had failed at that when he made Illya cry because of his stupidity…so he couldn't fail now. He couldn't let that girl cry while she was being abused by those monsters—!

…

…

…

**_I NEED TO SAVE ANN NOW!_ **

**_"About damn time you have chosen to stand up against those pieces of shit, no?"_ **

Shiho Suzui gasped as her eyes pulsed yellow at the sound of the voice.

_**"Oh, have your patience and tolerance finally reached their boiling point? Have you finally realized that merely standing by in the sidelines and  just letting yourself get slapped around is the very epitome of stupidity!"** _

She gasped and shuddered in pain as the voice mocked her. Her body thrashed erratically against the wet and twitching limb with violent spasms. The creature that held her groaned at the abuse.

_**"Come on, girl, will you let the one you cherish deep in your heart be used and abused by those impotent pigs! Or will you stand to the side as you've always done and let her get raped!?"** _

"NO!"

Shiho screamed loudly, as blue fire burned on her face and a mask appeared. A white tiger mask now covered her entire face besides her eyes and lower jaw.

Kamoshida ignored the girl and smirked as Ann finally reached her.  **"Scream all you want, but I'll be having some fun tonight…"**

Beside him Gilles looked at the now masked girl in surprise, excitement began to build up in him as he felt something from her. "This feeling… how can there be two…?"

**_"The contract has been made then. I am thou. Thou art I. You who have chosen to step up and grind your heels on top of those pathetic pigs that dare to raise their hands against what is yours. Sharpen thy eyes, bare your fangs and get ready to rip their eyes out with your claws!"_ **

"I understand!" Shiho roared as a torrent of blue fire burst from her and destroyed the tentacle that had her trapped.

Kamoshida froze and looked at the girl in fright.  **"W-What the hell!? Another one!? Guards!"**

The silver knights in the room moved to intercept the now free girl, but they were ignored as Shiho glared at the king. Her hand went for her mask and she gripped it tightly.

**_"Let's make them cry."_ **

Shiho smirked viciously beneath her mask. "Yes, let us…  ** _Sforza!_** "

In an instant, Shiho ripped the tiger mask off her face, allowing the flames of rebellion to consume her and obliterate the knights that had reached her.

Shirou looked up in shock at the occurrence and felt a soothing presence as the flames touched him. Ann looked back with wide eyes and confusion overpowering her feelings of defeat as she watched her friend be engulfed in fire.

 **"Damn it… not again…"**  Kamoshida ground out in anger as he pushed Ann to the side. Gilles used the limbs to retract Ann beside him and watched the spectacle.

"OOOooo, how cruel of you God… to split the Saint into body and soul like this…"

The torrent of flames disappeared and revealed Shiho, her outfit changed and her stance proud and tall.

Her eyes burned with righteous fury as she glared at Kamoshida. A long white trench coat adorned her body, the collar coated with fur as it extended into a small cape that fluttered softly behind her back as the winds of her anger calmed. A peach button-down shirt was tugged beneath the coat with golden highlights adorning it. Her trousers, which were the same color as her shirt, went down to her ankles and showed off her sharp, black and gold coated designer shoes.

She grabbed her peach colored gloved hands and adjusted them with a sneer on her face as her form became shadowed. It gave the illusion of seeing a western mafia boss from the old days.

Everyone's eyes gravitated towards the tall figure behind her, and Kamoshida took a step back as cold sweat rolled down his face.

Surrounded by crackling chains, a tall spectral woman with light, peach colored skin, long braided blond hair and shadowed red eyes glared with disdain at her enemies. With her single left arm, she showed off her the plates of armor on her left shoulder and forearm. Her long navy-blue dress that cut off by the right side of her pelvis and showed off her right leg fully and enticingly for anyone who wanted to look or wished to grope deep into her womanhood—but whoever did so would be foolish to do so, as on her right shoulder was a living white tiger.

The animal growled and snarled with the same level of disdain and fury as its owner. Only its head and right arm showed signs of being alive as the rest of its body was used as clothing pelt. But even so, the tiger was alive and more than ready to rip the heads off of anyone that dared to step too close.

Shiho extended her arm and opened her hand in a demanding gesture. "Give me Ann, now."

Kamoshida sneered at her words. He brought forth his right arm and snapped his fingers. Ten knights burst from a shadowy pool and stood behind their king.

**"Bitch, don't think just because you changed into a stupid thief that you can do anything! TO ME, MY ELITE KNIGHTS! KILL HER!"**

The knights behind the man shuddered and shook, they went limp and then exploded into the black substance they had been birthed from. Once the shower of black ceased, it revealed seventeen winged red men, with long noses and even longer strap-ons. They grinned lecherously at the girl and rushed her.

Shiho gave them a disdainful smiled and cocked her hip. "Come and get it... if you can that is."

 **"Don't underestimate my Incubus fleet!"** Kamoshida roared as they closed in on the girl.

"Shiho!" Ann screamed out in worry, but was hushed by Gilles who stood beside her and watched the action with excitement.

"Yes could this be… the divine light of God?"

The Incubi swarmed towards Shiho, all of them pulling their hips back to pierce the poor girl with their long and pointy strap-ons. Their grinning faces turning feral as they humped forward—

Shiho put her left hand on her hip, placed the other on her face and was surrounded by circle of blue fire.

"Grind them to dust, Sforza!"

The womanly figure behind her, glared vindictively at the swarm and the tiger on her right shoulder roared in fury as a bright white light burst from her body and impacted all the Incubi from all directions. The reddish creatures all howled in pain as their bodies were torn to shreds from the light, which had compressed and formed dozens of blessed light spheres that shot everywhere, destroying them in the process. 

The tentacle beast stuck in its cage wasn't spared from the onslaught. It screeched in agony when the spheres of blessed light tore it to bits. What remained of the creature whined as it bled pathetically in its cage.

 **"What!?"**  Kamoshida roared in fright and took a step back. Sweating profusely, he looked at the excited wizard. **"How was the Hentai Beast  injured that badly!? Why isn't it healing!"**

Gilles paid him no mind as he grinned. "This divine light can only belong to you my Saint! How could I have not seen the obvious signs! That your pureness and beauty could not be contained!? That it had to be split in your new form!"

Shiho paid no heed to the man's words as she pointed at him. Sforza disappeared behind her and her mask burned itself back onto her face.

"Give Ann back!"

Gilles grabbed the blonde by the back of her head and pulled her in front of him. "Yes, yes, come, come, your place is with her, isn't it? You are the divinity that belongs to this body, so come here, and return to your body of origin! Joan, my friend, my Saint, you must become whole once more!"

"Shut up!" Shiho cried out as she charged forward. All of a sudden, her right hand became engulfed in blue fire and a spear appeared on it. "Enough with your delusions! Enough with Kamoshida's arrogance! Enough with all of this! ** _Give! Me! Ann!_ "**

She darted forward thrusting her spear forward, directly at the delusional. Gilles grinned madly as more tentacles sprouted from the book and wrapped around her weapon. Shiho was stopped from advancing further, but used the momentum of her charge to catapult herself into the air, ripping her mask off her face and summoning Sforza once more. The tiger roared with great intensity and blessed light destroyed the wet appendages completely. The wizard grunted in surprise at the sudden action and stumbled back.

Ann fell to the ground, but before she even touched it, her body was pulled up in a bridal style carry by Shiho. The dark haired girl jumped back to where Shirou was and landed gracefully. She looked down at the surprised and awe-inspired Ann, her brown eyes softening as she looked at her friend.

"Are you okay Ann?"

The blond blinked a couple of times. "Y-Yeah… but Shiho, what's up with that get up!? And what the hell is it with you pulling a Stand!?"

"I don't know Ann, but I'm not going to question it either. Right now, I feel like I can protect you and Emiya-kun, and I'll keep doing so no matter what." She looked down at the bloodied young man and winced. "Ann, can you keep him safe?"

"Yeah." Ann nodded resolutely and moved to sit near her fallen comrade. She secured him in her arms and adjusted Shirou's blazer that he had given her earlier as a form of protection. She winced as she got a good look at his face, then turned back towards Shiho. "Be careful, got it!?"

Shiho nodded, turned around and got into a charging stance. Her spear held tightly as she glared at the opposition. Gilles grinned happily as his book glowed and four new masses of tentacles screeched to life. They writhed and squirmed as they began to move towards the teens.

"The time for your resurrection is at hand Joan! I'll make sure to rip that light of yours and keep it as intact as possible when I return it your body! I can't wait to dunk you into all of the debauchery and blasphemous rituals I have learned since my time away from you!"

As the creatures charged her, Shiho shook her head and charged forward with a vicious sneer. "I'll tell you again you bug-eyed creep! I'm not this Joan person you're speaking off! Ann isn't her either! So shove your creepy ass delusions back into that muddy brain of yours, fish face!"

Ann winced as she watched her friend meet the creatures head on, piercing them with her weapon. She then jumped over another one that tried to grapple her and spiked its mouth with her spear. She then ripped her mask off, Sforza appeared behind her and ripped the speared creature in half with blessed light.

"Geez, is this really Shiho…? She's acting totally different…"

"…Frus…tra…tion…" Shirou's gasping breaths brought the blondes attention down and she furrowed her brows as she tried to understand what he meant. Her eyes widened in realization and she sighed sadly.

"Shiho… all this time, you weren't just sad were you? You were really this angry…? I never noticed did I…" Ann closed her eyes and looked down, frustrated tears spilled from her eyes as memories of Kamoshida nearly raping her filled her brain. She looked up with an expression of pure hatred. "I understand just how you feel Shiho! Give that son of a bitch hell! Make him regret ever being a piece of shit!"

"Sforza!" Shiho cried out, Ann's anger filled roar empowered her as she unleashed everything she had and destroyed the remaining tentacle creatures. They burned away under the intense light, their dying screeches echoing around the room. She let out a tired breath from the effort, and the spectral woman behind her disappeared and she turned towards the smiling Gilles who looked at her with brimming joy.

"Only your saintly light would be capable of destroying such impure and mockery creatures of God, Joan. But without your body, you'll never thoroughly shine as you once did! Come, join your other half! Or… are you perhaps giving me the honor of doing it for you  **JOAN!** "

His book glowed and illuminated the whole red room purple, as seven new impure creatures were summoned. They screeched with morbidly, savage delight and once more charged.

Shiho breathed out heavily as drops of sweat rolled down her cheek. The fatigue was already settling in her lungs from her attacks. Though, the sight of more enemies made her straighten her stance as she understood that she was the only barrier between these disgusting creatures and her friends. She ripped her mask off, understanding that physical attacks were not as effective as whatever light she could produce.

She grounded her teeth, a heavy headache took her as she poured more effort than she had previously exerted and roared. Blessed light cannoned in from behind her as Sforza appeared quickly and let out barrage of light spheres as they tore into the creatures, ripping them to shreds.

Shiho then fell to one knee, heavy breaths escaping her fatigued body. She looked at her hands and clenched them tightly.

"Why am I getting tired? I can't get tire ye—!"

"SHIHO!" Ann's frantic cries made the white clothed girl looked up in alarm and just in time to see one of the creatures that had been hit by her attack still charging at her. Its tentacles moved and speared forward, she rolled out of the way in time as they entangled themselves in the ground. She looked up in time to see the monstrosity closed its round mouth and vomit a thick, ink-like substance at her.

"Gragh—!" The liquid substance impacted her right on her chest and sent her spiraling back towards Shirou and Ann. The girl managed to right herself and skid back, coming to a stop in front of them. She winced and grasped her chest, as she could feel the substance burning her.

"Shiho are you okay—!?" Ann's concern went ignored as the two heard the mocking claps of Kamoshida.

 **"Phew! For a second there, I actually thought I would have to worry over what some cunt could do!? But look at me getting worried over nothing! All you girls are just good at spreading your legs and writhing in pleasure for me! Ghihihihihihi!"**  The king laughed hysterically. He then turned towards Gilles.  **"Hey, Bluebeard, what's up with my Hentai Beasts? I thought they couldn't be hurt that badly by anyone? Didn't those other thieves fail to get through because of that?"**

The teens all looked at the man with confused looks, other thieves?

The bugged eye man turned towards his Master. "Only the divine light of God is strong enough to kill this mockery of life Master. Only a Saint like her can have such light."

 **"Huh, well whatever… just make sure to kill them or whatever the hell you want to do with the girls. I'm already tired of all this bullshit."**  The king looked behind him and grabbed the fallen doppelgänger of Ann, she giggled when he roughly brought her up. **"Come on babe, I'm feeling horny… I ain't letting you sleep tonight!"**

"Oh! You're such a perv!" The bikini clad girl crooned in perverse delight. Ann gritted her teeth at her look-alike's words.

"You son of a …"

Gilles interrupted her curse as he snapped his book open and let out a high-pitched scream. "Joan, let me make you whole!"

The book glowed in unholy light as multiple tentacles burst out, and went flying straight for the girls. Ann recoiled back, hugging Shirou closer to her as Shiho grunted in fatigue and stood up to shield her friends.

She was aware that she was at her limit and that all she could do was slow the wet monstrosities down.

_**"Captain Kidd!"** _

A male voice called out. They all looked up in time to see a pirate in a long blue coat, with a skull for a face and a canon for a hand ride in on a pirate ship with a savage face painted on the front with its fangs put in a permanent smirk. It dove in as if sailing through water and let out a rain of lightning bolts that forced the fast approaching tentacles down to the ground. The skeleton let out a wicked grin at that and disappeared into thin air as it was engulfed in blue fire.

 **"What th—!?"**  Kamoshida gasped in surprise at the interference and then his eyes widened in realization as he looked up with gritted teeth and recognized the figure that jumped from the shadows.  **"You—!"**

A young man dressed in a black leather biker outfit dropped in front of the group. With a bent pipe in one hand, he pulled his arms back and took a powerful swing toward the stunned appendages and sent them flying back to the wizard. Kamoshida threw the bikini clad girl once more to the floor and glared at him with a sneer.

**"How the hell did you get this far Sakamoto!?"**

"Sakamoto?" Shiho questioned in surprise.

"Ryuji….? What the hell!?"

The dyed blond turned towards them, his face obscured by a skull mask. "No time for questions! Just stand back there!"

Kamoshida sneered and roared.  **"Fuck that!"**  As five knights burst from the shadowy substance that appeared and then exploded into three Incubi and two skin-tight clothed winged women. The King gestured forward.  **"Incubi, Succubi bring me their heads!"**

They flew towards them, Ryuji just grinned savagely at the attack and looked up.

"All yours Joker!"

From the ceiling, dropped a dark long-coat wearing young man that spun in mid-air with a gun in his red-gloved hands. His frizzy black hair fluttered in the air, his grey steel eyes lightened up with smugness behind his pointy owl-shaped white mask as he took aim.

"You need proper punishment!"

The gun went off, its bullets sailing off and impacting each of the adversaries. The sound of gunfire made the three-rescued teens flinch at the sharpness and loudness of the shots fired. The monsters all gaped in surprise as the bullets tore through them and made them stumble down onto the ground. Joker landed with the grace of a cat, gave the downed enemies an arrogant grin and ripped his mask off.

Similarly to Shiho, a being appeared behind him. Dressed in a fancy red suit with a black top hat, the being would've given the illusion of a gentlemanly figure—except its fiery demonic expression, the long horns, steel talons in his hands and long black wings spread out on its back spoke the complete opposite.

Joker snapped his fingers. _ **"Arsene, ravage them!"**_

Arsene obeyed the command with gusto. Releasing a low throaty and sadistic chuckle, it pulled its leg back, showing off its bladed heels and slashed down without any mercy or hesitation. The steel stiletto cut through the monster's throats in one fluid motion.

The dark savior flipped back to stand beside Ryuji as Arsene dissipated into the ether. The blond male grinned and nodded. "You're a show off ya know that?"

Joker grinned and looked back, Shirou stared at him and his eyes lightened up in recognition.

"Ku…rusu…?" Kurusu heard him and frowned as he took a good look at him.

"Don't worry Emiya, we'll get you patched up in no time." Shirou tried to stand up, but fell back down from the pain and disorientation.

"Emiya-kun don't move, your way to hurt for that." Ann called in worry as she tried to put the redhead in a comfortable position. She didn't see the small shadow that creeped up beside her.

"Allow me my lady." A boyish voice said in a gentlemanly manner. Ann blinked in confusion at that and looked up. She paled and pulled back.

"What the hell!? A-A-A Monster cat!?"

"I'm not a monster cat!"

Shiho and the rest of the teenagers turned back to see an indignant—cat. It was cartoonish in appearance, with a big rounded head with a black bandanna over its face and a yellow scarf around its neck, two big and round blue eyes that were currently alight with indignation at the moniker given to him and a body that was more in proportion with the size of its head with paws that were far to small.

In other words, it looked cute.

Shiho reacted accordingly to the cute and most certainly bizarre cat before her—

She turned and went to pierced its head for getting to close to her friend and making Ann feel any sense of discomfort.

"Whoa!" The cat creature flinched back as the pointy end of her weapon nearly went through its head had it not been for Kurusu who grasped the spear firmly. He turned toward Shiho when the girl glared at him, he shook his head and raised a hand in a placating manner.

"Don't worry Suzui, Mona is on our side."

"Mona?" Ann questioned as she looked back at the now frazzled cat being, who quickly shook itself out of its surprised state and narrowed its big blue eyes.

"Right, you can call me Mona for now. I'm the brains of this rescue operation, and—!" He crossed his arms and a torrent of blue exploded around him as tall and disproportionally buffed man with a long and pointy mustache that showed off its confident grin as it swiped its rapier with its too big hands in 'Z' pattern. "—you're personal healer as well! Zorro! Show your might!"

Zorro grin and once more swiped its sword in a 'Z' patterned. Ann and Shiho looked in confusion for something to happen, then they heard Shirou groaning and the two looked down in surprise and worry.

The redhead let out a moan as green energy gathered around him and made the pain go away. Shirou looked up with wide eyes as his injuries had been healed. His face was still bloodied, but the pain and disorientation that had him on the floor dissapeared as the green light worked its magic.

"Whoah…" Shirou looked at his body in amazement as even his body's pain gave way to relief. Mona nodded and looked up with a satisfied smirk.

"Alright Joker, our next move?"

Kurursu looked back at the wizard who pointed at them and at the furious king. "Let's ditch this place for now, Mona smoke them!"

"Nyahaha! You got it!" Mona jumped into the air, gave out an elaborate twirl and revealed in his hand a small object with a cat doodle drawn on it. He then threw it to the ground and a wall of smoke completely obscuring them from the enemy's vision.

Kurusu hoisted Shirou up on his shoulder, while Ryuji offered Ann a hand. Shiho coughed a little thanks to the smoke, but was surprised when Mona offered her his yellow scarf and jumped on her back to tell her where to go.

"Let's go!" Joker ordered.

"No!" Gilles cried out in agony as he stretched out his hands and summoned more creatures from his book to detain the escaping teenagers. "Do not let the Saint escape!"

Kamoshida roared in fury as dozens upon dozens of knights were summoned and gave chase.

But by the time the soldiers had all fanned out to cover more ground and catch their escaping enemies—it was too late as the thieves had escaped from danger.

.

.

.

.

* * *

4/14 Afternoon, Afterschool

All five students of Shujin Academy breathed out heavily as they leaned against the walls off the alleyway entrance. Shirou looked up, his face still red from the blood and let out a sound of amazement.

"Is everyone okay?" Kurusu asked as he stared at everyone. Shiho nodded and turned towards Ann, the blond just waved her off with a small smile.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"Still, Ann you…"

"Hey redhead, you should probably clean your face up." The girls stopped their actions and looked around in confusion at the boyish voice that had spoken. Shirou stopped and looked down with a raised eyebrow as he saw a black cat, with a yellow scar and blue eyes staring up at him lazily.

"How… can a cat talk?"

The cat's hair stood on end and growled in indignation. "I'm not a cat! I'm Morgana! An honest to god human and don't you forget it!"

Shirou just sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose as he ignored the surprised cries of the girls. "It doesn't matter if you have name or not. If you look like cat and even act like one… that would still make you a cat, wouldn't it?"

"Y-You—!"

Ryuji cut in with a smirk. "Ah! The guy totally got you there you fur ball!"

"What was that you stupid monkey!?"

Ignoring the argument between the blond delinquent and black cat, the frizzy haired young man walked towards Shirou and offered him a handkerchief from his pocket. The redhead took it with a nod of appreciation. "Thank you, Kurusu."

"Call me Akira, Emiya. I think we're way to knee deep into things to keep things formal between us, eh?" Akira offered with a smirk as he turned towards Shiho and Ann. "I guess, it would be best we get out of here. We got a lot to explain and I'm curious to know as to why that pervert was chasing after you guys."

Ann flinched and looked down with a pained expression, Shiho placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed at the sight of her friend's mood rapidly down.

Shirou pursed his lips and let out a sigh.

.

.

.

.

* * *

"THAT FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Ryuji's angry roar gathered enough glares at them from the little clientele in the Big Bang Burger in Central Street. The rest of the group winced at the heated glares and looked at the heated blond male.

"Ryuji you have to calm down, now!" Akira ordered as he saw the restaurant worker arguing with himself over whether to kick them out or give them another chance to stay and finish their food.

Ryuji turned his furious glare at the frizzy haired young man. "Are you for real!? That asshole nearly—!"

"Enough Ryuji!" Ann interrupted with a furious scowl. "Seriously, I don't need you reminding me of that again… I already had enough living through that experience."

Shiho hugged the blonde with a sad expression and shook her head. "Ann…"

"We have to stop him." Shirou said as he looked down at his untouched food. The rest of the table looked at him and nodded in agreement.

"But how?" Shiho asked. "Nothing we do would really have much impact… Kamoshida would just spin a tale about how it was us that started causing trouble and somehow make things worse for all us. It's not the first time he's done it with the volleyball team."

Ryuji still had an angry scowl on his face and shook his head to try and rid himself of his anger. "Yeah… I know how good that asshole lies. He did the same thing back with the Track team…"

"But…!" The voice butted in and they saw the black feline burst from Akira's school bag to look at them. "We have a way to actually stop Kamoshida! It was what I was trying to tell these two bozos about before we had to come in and rescue you three from the Palace."

Shiho looked a little uncomfortable at the fact that a cat was talking to her, still she perked up at the words. "A way to stop him? How?"

Morgana nodded and narrowed his cat eyes. "We steal his treasure!"

"…"

"…"

"…what does that have to do with anything?" Ann asked in the akward bit of silence between herself, Shiho and Shirou. The cat groaned at that and shook his head. Akira adjusted his glasses and looked down at the feline.

"I think its best you give them a rundown of things, Morgana." The cat just gave him an annoyed looked and rolled his eyes.

"Well duh! Anyway, listen up, because I'm not going to repeat myself a fourth or fifth time! A treasure is the core of a person's distorted desires! It's what keeps their Palace up and running."

"Wait, wait, wait, what's a Palace? And what do you mean by distorted desires?" Shirou cut in, he received a heated glare from Morgana as an answer. Shirou just returned the look with a sheepish one.

"Ugh, amateur. Fine I'll explain it from the beginning." Morgana gave in and shook his head. He turned towards the girls and narrowed his eyes. "A person with strong distorted desires can manifest a Palace. That place we had to rescue you from? The castle? That's Kamoshida's Palace—in actuality that's your school, but as it is seen through Kamoshida's eyes. So in other words, he sees himself as the king and ruler of his castle, which is your school. The only way to enter into that world is with that phone of yours or whatever."

Shirou brought up his phone and looked at the bizarre app on the screen. "This thing was what let us enter, huh…"

Akira nodded at the admission, while Ann bristled at Morgana's words. "So, he sees himself as the king of the school? What an arrogant prick."

Shiho stiffened immediately as she realized something. "Wait! Is Kamoshida aware of everything we did there?"

The blond froze and looked at her friend. "Now that you say it, I never actually thought about that…"

"Nah." Ryuji dismissed their worries quickly. "That Kamoshida, the one from the castle, is a totally different Kamoshida. They're from literally different worlds!"

"Different worlds?" Shirou questioned with a raised brow.

"Yeah, the Metaverse, It's what that other world is called." Akira cut in. "You use the Metaverse Navigator to go in and out of it. The app with the star shaped eye symbol, that's what we use to jump in and out."

Morgana cleared his throat and caught everyone's attention back to his irritated eyes. "Yeah, yeah, guys let me finish! I'll explain everything so it all doesn't go all over the place! Anyways, Lady Ann, yes Kamoshida sees himself as a king and no Shiho, the Kamoshida of this world won't know what was going on inside his own distorted heart. The Kamoshida from the Palace is what's known as a Palace Ruler. He basically governs the place as Kamoshida's shadow."

Ann shook her head and blinked a couple of times. "Wait what?"

"See, even Ann's confused with all the crap your spouting out!" Ryuji complained as he crossed his arms. Morgana bristled at the words, but calmed down and looked back at Ann.

"In other words, king Kamoshida rules the castle while teacher Kamoshida just teaches at the school and basically wants to live out his desires, but can't. King Kamoshida is all his desires run rampant without any social norm or morality to hold him back. Its why he acts like that. It's also why it's Kamoshida's shadow. It's his real self, the him that he denies, but exists deep within his consciousness."

Ann shook her head. "I didn't see any difference between the real thing or the shadow thing..."

Shiho placed a hand on the blond in comfort and hummed. "I think I get it, his shadow, right? That's what he really is like then?"

"No Suzui-san." Shirou disagreed and got the girl to look at him, he narrowed his eyes. "It's his desires…that, uh, shadow, it's just Kamoshida wanting to act out like that, but represses it because he knows he'll get into trouble if he does anything like that in the real world. We saw what his king version wants. He wants sex, and he even sees acts like physical abuse and rape as acceptable. We basically got to see everything he sees and how he wants to be…we learned all his secrets by invading his mind…"

Morgana let out an impressed whistle. "Whoah, I didn't expect that you would get it… I actually had you pegged to be as stupid as Ryuji."

"Hey!"

Shirou sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's what happens when you watch way too much weird anime with your little sister…"

"You have a little sister?" Akira questioned with a raised brow.

"You watch weird anime? Like what?" Ryuji asked too as his curiousity over the 'thug' before him got the better of him. Shirou just raised a hand and shook his head.

"Maybe another time…" Shirou waved the questions dismissively and narrowed his eyes. "So to summarize, a Palace is the place that manifests when a person has distorted desires and their shadows, their true-self, rules as the Palace Ruler?"

"Yep." Morgana nodded with a pleased look, but his eyes narrowed as he continued. "But it isn't just the Palace and the king Kamoshida that we have to worry about. We also got to worry about the Servant too."

"Servant? You never mentioned that Morgana." Akira narrowed his eyes as he looked at the feline.

"What? I never got the chance to talk about it." The cat defended himself with a huff. "But yeah, the guy with the bug eyes? That guy is a Servant and they are something that I'm not that familiar with. What I do know is that their like Shadows, they get attracted to Palaces and serve their Ruler… though unlike Shadows, there's only one Servant. At least from what I have seen before… and can remember."

"Wait so that guy isn't just whatever we've been fighting up until now?" Ryuji asked as he scratched the back of his head. Morgana glared at him.

"Weren't you listening? No, Servants are just… different, okay? They aren't like shadows, their just independent or something. All I know of them is that they do whatever they want inside of the Palaces and have a lot of control there, not as much as a Palace Ruler, but enough to be annoying. It's how I got caught… I couldn't get past those yucky tentacles things that got in the way of the doors and ended up getting captured."

Shiho shivered. "Disgusting…"

Morgana looked at her and his eyes lightened up in mischief. "Nyehehe. True but now we actually found our ticket into Kamoshida's palace!"

"Huh?" Akira looked at the feline with a raised brow.

"I knew Akira had a lot of potential with his Persona and was counting on that to help me go in further into the Palace, but with Shiho awakening her own Persona, I now know what that Servant's weakness is! And it's your Bless attacks!"

Shiho touched her chest, where her heart was and closed her eyes. "So that's what that power is called… Persona."

Morgana nodded. "By having your will of Rebellion burst open, you can awaken to your Persona and do battle against the shadows in the Palace."

"Can anyone activate it?" Shirou asked curiously, Ann perked up and looked at the feline.

"It depends, as long as your rebellious nature is strong, you can awaken to your powers. But I guess you or Lady could have an Awakening."

Ann looked down and pursed her lips, her blue eyes burning with an unwavering fire.

"I can fight against that bastard… if I can awaken?… huh…"

Shirou looked at her worriedly, but focused back on the cat. "So, if you have this Persona you can use it to fight and take the… treasure?"

Morgana grinned. "And by stealing their treasure, the thing that embodies those desires and keeps the Palaces running, we can trigger a change of heart!"

"And by change of heart you mean…?" Shiho trailed off, confused.

Akira answered the question. "We'll turn Kamoshida into an honest man."

"To hell with that!" Ann's furious roared made Morgana and Ryuji flinch back.

"Whoa! Are you for real? Why wouldn't you want that!?"

The blond turned her glare on the blond male and he shrank under the scrutiny. "Because I want him to pay! I want that asshole to rot! Do you know what he did to me? Do you even realize just how close he got…how close he got…"

Ann slumped down on her seat as cold sweat rolled down her forehead and a shaky breath escaped her. Shiho clenched her fist and glared at the table.

"We can't let him get away with this… what he did… his abuse over the team, his demeaning words… everything he did… doesn't compare to what he was about to do with Ann… I can't let him get away with just by turning him into an honest man."

Morgana piped in. "But even if we turn him into a good guy, it doesn't mean that everything he did will just disappear you know?"

"Huh?"

"Kamoshida will feel guilty over what he did…" The feline continued. "Every misdeed, every word, every abuse, every thought of sexually assaulting any of the females in the school or anywhere. Kamoshida will feel remorse for what he has done and will end up confessing everything he did— and that will be his downfall."

The girls both looked at one another and sighed in relief, as the opportunity for payback had shown itself to them. Shirou was the only one who still looked doubtful and disturbed.

"That's mind-control though…"

"Huh...?" Ryuji asked with a tilt of his head.

"That's just… that's just wrong though, isn't it?" Shirou continued, Ann's eyes flared up.

"Emiya yo—!" She was cut off when the redhead raised his hands up defensively.

"Wait, wait, calm down Takamaki-san! It's just that it feels like we're stooping down to Kamoshida's level by controlling someone's actions against their will. Even if Kamoshida deserves it, it doesn't mean that we have to start acting like him just to fight him."

"Except that it isn't mind-control!" Morgana said with lightened up eyes. Shirou looked at him curiously.

"Really?"

"Yeah! By stealing his treasure, we will be forcing a change of heart, a change of cognition if you will. By doing that what we're actually doing is giving Kamoshida something in exchange for taking his treasure—a conscious!"

Akira interjected this time with a pleased look. "Ah, so that's what it is. You should've just said that from the beginning, Morgana."

The cat licked his paws with smug satisfaction. "I can't reveal every secret I have to you guys. I have to keep some stuff to myself."

Shiho turned towards the still thinking Shirou. "Is that okay with you Emiya-kun? Knowing that if we help with stealing this treasure we can make a change for the better."

Shirou just sighed and nodded, he looked at Ann with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it's just that the idea of brainwashing someone into doing something seems deplorable to me. But I guess giving someone a conscious over their actions is fine, you're not exactly controlling them to do what you want… your just giving them something that should've been there from the very beginning."

Ann nodded at his words and smiled apologetically as well. "Yeah, sorry for snapping like that, it's just…"

"Yeah, don't worry about it Takamaki-san…"

"I think its best we continue this tomorrow or by text later tonight." Akira said to everyone as he looked around. "Entering the Metaverse can be tiring, and having an Awakening of your Persona can be even more exhausting…"

.

.

.

.

* * *

The redhead stretched his tired muscles as he walked towards his apartment. He winced as he felt heavy all over.

_'Kurusu wasn't kidding, entering that other world is pretty tiring.'_

He pulled out the keys for the apartment door and stopped, as he narrowed his eyes towards the apartment.

_'Right, no talking to anyone about what happened today. This is our big secret… no use in getting Maiya-san worried and then have her call dad or mom just so that they can start asking even more questions…'_

He shrugged, it wasn't like he would need an excuse as Maiya was never in to begin with. So he opened the door, strolled in and froze just as he was to put down his school bag on the counter—

For Maiya was there in the apartment, arms crossed in front of the plasma screen tv in the living room…having a live video chat with his father, Kiritsugu Emiya. The man sat inside his car in a darkened spot, which shadowed most of his face and gave him a mysterious edge.

"Dad…?" Shirou asked in amazement as he saw the man turn towards him on the screen. Kiritsugu gestured for Maiya to do something and the woman moved towards the apartment door. The redhead heard her secure the lock of the door and he grew nervous. "Dad… what's up? It's been a while."

"…" Kiritsugu stared at him with passive eyes. He then let out a deep sigh and crossed his fingers underneath his nose. "So you have finally entered into that other world, Shirou."

"—!" Alarm bells went off inside his head as he heard his father say those words. He took a step back and bumped into Maiya. He turned sharply to look at the woman, who returned the stare with her usual aloof expression. He turned back towards his dad with a confused expression. "… what?"

Kiritsugu paid no mind to his question as he looked down. "The information provided by my contact has come true... now that you have entered that world… it means that the operation can finally go into full swing."

"Operation… what are you talking about dad!?" Shirou was incredibly confusec and dread started to filter in as his father turned to look at him with empty eyes. But that couldn't be true, could it? How was it that the man who tended to act far too immature while around his children and whose eyes filled up with warmth and light whenever he played around, could possibly show such empty and cold eyes?

It had to be a trick on the live stream, it just had to be.

"Yes, Shirou… this operation… this is the operation that was made the day I betrayed you and Ilya. The day I trampled upon your lives."

"…" Shirou just stared at the plasma screen with a stupefied expression, his brain far too overwhelmed to understand what was happening.

Kiritsugu continued. "The reason you are here, in Tokyo is because of me Shirou… the reason why you got expelled, why you got treated as a pariah is because of me… the one who allowed for the events to have Illya in placed danger and make her cry was because of me…

I was the one who manipulated your every action, your every move... I was the one that set up your fall, Shirou."

…

"What?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, new chapter inbound!
> 
> Let me give out a quick run down as to why I went with Shiho in this and not Shirou, the answer is pretty simple actually. It just made more sense plot-wise. Shirou awakening from Ann's suffering would've been a bad choice and would've made Shiho's awakening in a later chapter be weak and not right. Shiho was the perfect choice here, the redhead's will have to happen in another occasion. When? Who knows, except me.
> 
> As for Shiho's Persona it was originally supposed to be Joan D'Arc, but I changed it since Joan didn't feel rebellious in nature. I went with Catherina Sforza as I was contemplating my choices with which Persona I should go for with Shiho, then I remember Assassin's Creed and remembered Sforza. I read all I could from her and chose her because it just fits the way I'm portraying Shiho in this story. And Sforza actually gave me that rebellious flare, a woman who was a tyrant, selfish and violent in a era where it was expected for women to be use as political tools and to bare children? I had to use her.
> 
> As for her appearance, she looks like Servant Jeanne D'Arc, it was a holdover and nod to what her original persona was going to be. The difference is the eyes and the giant tiger that she has over her shoulder.
> 
> Anyway, next chapter is still in progress since the hurricane threw my schedule out of whack, and by that I mean both for this story and the one from college. So next chapter might take a while. Though finally everything concerning Shirou's situation will be reveal.
> 
> Alright that's all for now folks, I hoped you enjoy this chapter. Tell me what you thought of the chapter and until next time. Adios.


	8. Confessions of a Sinner

_Five Years Ago_

_"Hrm…"_

_The annoyed grumble of Shirou Emiya filled the Emiya household's living room. The boy sat down on the couch with his arms crossed and a petulant look on his face. His golden-brown eyes looked off to the side where he caught sight of Sella walking by him. As usual, she held her nose up to the air, blatantly ignoring him._

_"Hrm…"_

_He grumbled again as the woman passed and disappeared around the corner, ready to continue with her maid duties around the house. Shirou felt somewhat awkward at being ignored so pointedly and he tightened his hold over his crossed arms._

_"Hrm…!"_

_He grumbled for a third time as he felt increasingly embarrassed from the scolding the woman had given him._

"How can you expect to be the brother that Lady Illya needs when you cannot even do her hair right? You have humiliated her, and have brought shame to the poor Lady. Seriously, I even wonder why you are here when you cannot complete your duties as the elder brother."

_Sella was always on his case for any reason. She was strictest with him and tended not to hold back her tongue with him at all. She always had such high expectations of him and was so harsh that it made him feel so inadequate and sad, especially when she kept demanding for him to be a better brother to Illya. It took him a year after being brought to the family to realize why the petite maid was always so harsh with him, and why she wanted him to be a better brother for Illya._

_When he had come to that realization, he had thrown himself into becoming the brother that Illya deserved. But the criticism never stopped, even though they became less frequent with the passage of time. With each verbal lashing, his confidence over his duty about being a good brother crumbled ever so slightly._

_He really didn't know if Sella was doing this on purpose or what. At least Liz wasn't like Sella. Shirou pursed his lips as a thought struck him. Sella and Liz always seemed to prefer Illya over him. Whenever there was an argument or a choice between the two children, they would always go for Illya. It was clear favoritism, not that he minded really. If it was for Illya, she could have all the favoritism in the whole world if it kept her smiling._

_But at the same time, it made the back of his neck feel all hot and sweaty as a feeling of awkwardness and shame swept through him._

_He uncrossed his arms and pulled his knees up to his chin, wrapping his arms around them as he went into deep thought. He completely failed to realize his father walk in to the living room with a newspaper in hand and took notice of his downtrodden look._

_"Shirou? Everything alright?"_

_The redhead flinched in surprised at the voice of Kiritsugu calling out to him. He looked up and noticed the man's concerned expression._

_"E-eh? Yeah… yeah, I'm fine dad… just feeling a little tired." A halfhearted deflection tactic. He hoped that it would've been enough to deter his father and leave him alone to his thoughts. Though, such a small mercy wasn't there to grace him that day._

_"Hmmhmm, tired you say. Would it be that you're tired from another argument with Sella?"_

_"Hrm…"_

_"I'll take your grumbling as a yes." Kiritsugu sighed as he folded his newspaper over and sat down beside the young man. "What was it about now? The usual?"_

_"…" Shirou just looked at the man and then stared at the floor with a frown. Kiritsugu huffed and nodded._

_"Humph, sorry, that was stupid question to ask. For all of Sella's scolding, she can be pretty one note, eh?"_

_"Ha… yeah …" Shirou looked to where said maid had gone off to, making sure she wasn't anywhere near hearing range and turned to his father. "It's just… she's so mean…"_

_"Huh… well it is to be expected from someone like her kid. She's pretty set in the old ways of putting direct members of the family first and treating the rest as secondary."_

_"Hrm…" Shirou cringed at the wording his father used and folded into himself. Sticky sweat pouring out of his back and making his shirt feel uncomfortable and itchy as his self-deprecating feelings resurfaced once more. Kiritsugu noticed this and shook his head._

_"Don't take it too personally Shirou. As hard as it is to believe, I was on the same boat as you for a long time."_

_The redhead stared up at his father in surprise. "Huh, really?"_

_"Yep, Sella was pretty cold to me. You think her nagging at you is bad? At the very least she's telling you to be better at being a brother. With me she was all 'your unworthy' or such nonsense."_

_"That's mean…"_

_"Well, she can be a mean person." Kiritsugu chuckled at this and looked at his son. "But since you're in such a dire situation , you leave me with no choice but to help you. After all, as the only two men in this female controlled household, we have to stick together right?"_

_"Yeah." Shirou responded quickly with a smile._

_"Okay, then I'll let you in on a little secret of how I got Sella off my back. Ready?"_

_"Yeah!" The young boy looked at his father expectantly, wondering how he could fix his own issues with Sella with whatever secret he would tell him._

_"I gave her a reason to stop."_

_"A reason… to stop? But what?"_

_"I became the perfect husband for Iri and I became the greatest dad for both you and Illya. I exceeded so much of her expectations that she had no choice but to suck it up and keep that mean tongue of hers on a leash."_

_"Oh…" Shirou looked down in thought. It was such a simple thing to do really. All he had to do was keep being a brother for Illya. He frowned and pursed his lips as he wondered if he could exceed the woman's expectations._

_But hadn't he been doing exactly what the petite woman wanted? It was just so unfair that she—_

_His eyes widened as a memory passed through his head._

_._

_._

_._

_._

* * *

_Shirou stared down at the little white hair toddler sleeping soundly in her crib. With curious fascination he reached a hand out towards her chubby cheeks and poked them. Little Illya opened her big red eyes, startled at the sudden touch._

_The boy took a deep breath as his little sister stared at him with scared eyes. He closed his eyes and waited for the toddler to let out a wail and cry. He knew that this would get him a scolding from his parents, especially from the petite maid—but that wasn't what had him worried or upset._

_What had him upset was the fact that Illya could stare at him with such scared eyes._

_He cringed and waited for the loud cry from the tiny girl._

_... And waited..._

_... and waited._

_Then a giggle made him look up in surprise. What greeted him was Illya sitting up on her rump and reaching out to him with the biggest toothless smile she could muster._

_Shirou reached out to meet her halfway and his heart swelled up when Illya giggled happily when they touched hands._

_"On-cha! On-cha!"_

_The redhead smiled and went up to sit beside her, much to the delight of the tiny girl, and he was more than happy to work to keep the girl smiling._

_._

_._

_._

_._

* * *

_The memory faded, and he smiled. "I guess I was letting what Sella said get to me… I kinda forgot what really matters… and that's being the best brother for Illya, right dad?"_

_"Ha!" His father laughed and ruffled his son's red hair, much to the boy's dismay. "That's a fine attitude to have. Just follow my example and you'll have Sella off your back in no time."_

_Shirou nodded and looked at his dad with stars in his eyes. "Thanks dad."_

_"Humph, no need for that kid. That's what dad's are for." Kiritsugu leaned in close to Shirou and looked straight into his eyes. His eyes were full of warmth and his smile was confident._

_"I'll always be there for you and Illya. No matter what, I'll fight tooth and nail to keep you two kids smiling and happy. Always."_

_The redhead looked down, the words resounding from deep within him. He clenched his fist tightly and felt an empowering heat in his chest. He looked up and stared at his father with renewed determination._

_"I'll do the same for Illya! I'll make sure she's always happy! I'll be the best brother she can have and show Sella how good of a brother I am!"_

_Kiritsugu chuckled then looked above his son's head and gestured for the boy to look. Shirou obeyed and saw Illya and Sella talking. The young girl looked sullen as a dismayed Sella tried to cheer her up. The elder brother frowned at the expression on his sister's face, ready to stand up and go to her to see what was wrong in an almost instinctual manner._

_"Hey Shirou, want to know another little secret."_

_The boy blinked as his father's words stopped him and made him turn towards the older man._

_"Huh…? Another secret?"_

_"Yeah." Kiritsugu leaned back, cloing his eyes. "Just so you know why Sella is always so harsh on you."_

_"Isn't it because she wants me to be a better brother for Illya?"_

_The small white haired girl heard her name being called out and turned towards Shirou. Her sullen expression turned into one of delight as she took off and left a startled Sella behind._

_"Onii-chan!"_

_Shirou looked back towards his sister as she ran towards him and crashed into him with a tight hug. The boy caught her, and his focus became entirely on her, but he still heard it—_

_"Sella is just jealous of how good of a brother you are… and how you always make Illya smile."_

_The boy spared his dad a glance, but caught him fast asleep sprawled all over on the couch. He blinked at that and looked towards where Illya had run from. He looked just in time to catch the jealous frown on Sella's face before the woman cooled her features and walked away with a huff. Shirou blinked at the display and in wonder, but decided to return his focus back to his sister. The little girl stared up at him with big red eyes and tilted her head in wonder._

_"Uh… Onii-chan, are you okay?"_

_Shirou just smiled and nodded resolutely. "Yeah, now that you're here everything is fine._

_"Onii-chan, you're being weird!"_

_"Am not!"_

_"Are too!"_

_"Am not!"_

_"Mmmhmm, you're so weird, but you're still my Onii-chan. Right Onii-chan?"_

_"Gah, aren't you saying Onii-chan too much?"_

_The two siblings bickered back and forth, but a single thought resounded in the redhead's mind._

_…I'll always be there for you and Illya, no matter what. I'll fight tooth and nail to keep you two kids smiling and happy. Always…_

_He smiled and grasped his sister's hand to lead her out of the living room._

_'I'll be just like you dad, I'll keep protecting Illya and make sure she's always smiling. I'll fight tooth and nail to do it!'_

_._

_._

_._

_._

* * *

_Present Time_

_4/14 Evening_

What?

That was the only word that had echoed in the living room, in his head—and deep within him.

_… The reason you are here, in Tokyo is because of me Shirou…_

What?

_… the reason why you got expelled…_

What?

_…why you got treated as a pariah is because of me…_

What?

_…the one who allowed for the events to have Illya in danger and crying was because of me…_

**WHAT?**

Golden brown eyes were focused at the screen of the plasma TV, staring intently at the image of the man Shirou called, saw, and loved as a father. Once more he had to repeat the words which had been stuck in a loop in his head.

"What?"

Kiritsugu Emiya stared at him through the live stream. His face pixelated and hard to tell from the real thing whenever the stream was interrupted due to the internet connection—and yet he could easily make out the features of his father's face as if the man was standing right before him. But what he saw made him question if what was happening was just one big poorly planned prank from his dad or even if the man before him was his father.

Because the man that had raised him and taught him everything he knew could not possibly have those dead black eyes.

It just couldn't be.

The man leaned back, pulled a white stick towards his mouth, and lit it up—it was a cigarette.

_'Dad smokes!?'_

"Shirou, this isn't the time for useless questions. Now stand there and listen to what I have to say."

His father's harsh words made the redhead's eyes widen in both shock and hurt. He had never heard his Father act like this, never.

"D-Dad what's wrong with you!? You're acting completely out of character!" Shirou exclaimed, his head barely wrapping around what was happening.

"You speak as if you have the authority or knowledge to say such things Shirou."

"…!" Shirou took a step back, eyes wide and the air nearly knocked out of his lungs at the callous words. The redhead gritted his teeth and bit out a confused. "What…?"

Kiritsugu looked straight at him, the man's eyes twitched slightly at his actions and confusion, yet the dark haired adult remained resolute with his cold façade. He took a long drag of his cigarette, and then exhaled. His features relaxed a little more as he looked up at the redhead, his eyes a tinge less cold and a frown on his face.

"Shirou, I'm not going to waste both our time with all of the details…but I want you to understand this—I've used you. I've used you to further my own goals…and…" The man frowned slightly at this, bit down on his cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke. "…and for my ideals."

"Ideals…?" Shirou questioned incredulously at his father. "Everything… you… you did all of this… for an ideal!?"

"Yes, Shirou, for my ideal. An ideal I had taken to heart a very long time ago… I sacrificed your future for this ideal." The man closed his eyes for a moment, he opened them and gave the young man a sharp look. "Indeed…this ideal of mine is to be a Hero of Justice."

"A… a hero of… justice…!?" Shirou stared incredulously at his father, wondering how such contradiction could work.

"Yes, I trampled on Illya's happiness for this ideal Shirou—that is how much it matters to me."

_…I trampled on Illya's happiness for this ideal…_

_…I trampled on Illya's happiness for this ideal…_

_…I trampled on Illya's happiness for this…_

**_…I trampled on Illya's happiness…_ **

It was this admission that snapped him out his stupor. He stared at the screen in which the image of the man who he called father was and glared at him with a fiery glare. He bared his teeth and took a step forward.

"You're a hypocrite! You've always told me to be there for Illya! To make sure she was always happy! I wanted to be just like you! And you do all of that just because of a stupid ideal!? Why!? Why did you have to make her go through that!? Why the hell would you make her cry herself to sleep every night after that day… if… if… if…"

Shirou stopped and looked down at the floor, unable to articulate his thoughts. How did his father manage to manipulate events to lead to what had happened? He frowned and glared at his father, his fierce gaze softening due to his confusion. The man noticed this and hummed.

"You're wondering how I made everything happen, aren't you."

Shirou gritted his teeth at the cold and aloof statement. "…yeah…"

"It was magic."

…

…

…

"Is that supposed to be a joke dad… because it's not funny." Shirou ground out with an unimpressed looked. Kiritsugu tilted his head to the side and regarded him with a calculative gaze.

"Why do you find it so unbelievable Shirou? Is the possibility of magic that strange to you after what happened today? Didn't you enter into that 'place'—into that other world where cognition is made real?"

"….!" Shirou was in fast retreat at the casual questions his father fired at him. He took several steps back, and then tripped on his own footing down to the floor. "How do you…!?"

He had completely forgotten about the events earlier today, the confrontation with his father had shaken him to the core. But when he thought of the weird occurrence with the Palace, the Shadows, the Personas and everything else—the possibility of magic wasn't even that surprising.

And yet—!

"How are you a magician!? Wait… you were a magician all this time!?"

Kiritsugu regarded him coldly and then tilted his gaze behind him. "Maiya, its time he saw everything."

Shirou blinked and looked up at his father with a raised brow. He heard quiet footsteps from behind and he turned to look. He saw his aloof guardian and his eyes widened, as he had forgotten about her as well. The woman stepped towards him and knelt before him.

He looked at her weirdly as her hand reached for his forehead. "What are you…?"

"Releasing Mental Locks, Code: Sinner." Maiya said simply as she placed her right hand on Shirou's forehead. The young man looked confused until he felt a pressure on his head and—

_He was back home._

_He was back at the Emiya residence._

_He sat at the dinner table eating breakfast._

_He looked towards his left and saw his mother walking away with a suitcase ready to head out of town and a happy Illya in tow._

_He looked towards his right and saw Sella and Liz in the kitchen._

_He looked forward and saw the dark eyes of his father._

**_"Protect Illya."_ **

_It was such an obvious thing to say, of course he would protect Illya—yet a strange pressure settled into his head, everything within him told him that something was wrong and that he needed to fight it. But the small voice that was warning him was silence and everything just felt normal once again._

_Just a figment of his imagination._

_The next day he sat at a familiar scene._

_He looked to his left and saw Illya walking away._

_He looked to his right and saw Sella and Liz walking away._

_He looked in front and saw the dark eyes of his father._

**_"Protect Illya from physical harm."_ **

_Obvious words to say, of course he would protect Illya from physical harm—_

_The next day._

_He was in the kitchen._

_To his left, walking away was Illya._

_To his right was Sella who was doing something._

**_"Protect Illya from all mental harm."_ **

_Of course, he would protect Illya from all mental harm._

_The next day._

_He was in the kitchen._

_Illya was in the house, safe…_

_Protected…_

**_"Protect Illya with all your strength."_ **

_He would protect Illya with all his strength._

_The next day._

_He was in the kitchen…_

_Illya was safe…_

_…Illya was protected…_

**_"Protect Illya with all of your anger."_ **

_He would protect Illya with all of his anger._

_The next day._

**_"Protect Illya by blacking out in fury."_ **

_He would black out—_

_…Protect Illya…_

_…Protect Illya…_

_…Protect Illya…_

_…Protect Illya…_

_…_

_…_

_…_

_He was outside his school._

_He saw Illya…he saw some people go to her._

**_"Watch them go to her."_ **

_They started harassing her._

**_"Don't let them touch her."_ **

_He ran._

**_"Don't hold back."_ **

_He rushed at one of them with his fist, and he felt the nose break under his knuckles._

**_"Get angry."_ **

_He felt a surge of rage come over him as his eyes passed over the crying and terrified Illya._

_He had to protect her…_

_He had to protect her from all harm._

**_"Beat them down until they are on the ground red and bruised."_ **

_His hands felt bloodied._

_His knuckles hurt from the strain of punishment he was giving._

_His ears fell deaf towards the pleas of mercy._

_He felt a jaw break as he punched the one who touched Illya to roughly._

_He would protect Illya…_

_He would put them all down…_

_He would—_

**_"Congratulations, your actions have made her cry Emiya Shirou."_ **

_The dark words whispered into his ears so firmly. The words that once encouraged him, that had expected him to do this had given away and disappeared. It was as if the words had realized that their task had been completed and had retreated to the furthest reaches of his mind—hiding away without him knowing._

_Without him realizing how his mind had been violated, Shirou had acted blindly and without control._

_When Shirou Emiya had come to, he realized that he was standing in the middle of a pile of hurt and unconscious bodies, with a crowd of people around him filming the entire incident._

_But he was numb to it all, his brain still not catching up to the events that had occurred._

_He felt nothing as his mind tried to make sense of things._

_No regrets._

_No fear._

_The echoes of the manipulation still gnawing at him—_

_The echoes of the manipulation still egging him on—_

_He gave a single glance at the crying Illya—and he felt it._

_Shock at what was happening._

_Worry over how badly his sister was crying._

_Shame as he realized what he had done—_

_Shame that it was him who had made his little sister cry._

_And for once in the last couple of days, he finally heard the voice that screamed out to him from deep within—_

_He heard, but it made no sense to his rational mind. Still, it resounded so deeply with him that it hurt._

**_"YOU'RE A SLAVE!"_ **

Shirou let out a strangled cry as the memories flooded back towards him and he fell onto the floor face first. His hands grasped his head tightly as it throbbed in pain.

"That is correct Shirou…that was the effect of my magic influencing you." Kiritsugu's voice made the young man look up to meet his father's cold black eyes. "A simple spell called Suggestion… I… I implanted into you the seed that I needed for this entire operation to go as planned. I know of course that you are a push over. Even if Illya were to be harassed in front of you, you wouldn't give me the desired effect I wanted out of you. I needed pure rage, enough rage that it would be used against you and get you kicked out of Homuhara Academy."

"…" The redhead looked down, his face morphing into a confused and pained grimace.

"I manipulated every single action that led to that very moment. Your actions, the student's awareness of the situation and yes… even those kids I let Maiya put on the scene ready to go after Illya. A simple harassment would give the anger and violence we needed out of you. Illya was simply bait for your anger."

"…"

"Planning your downfall, getting Illya into position and having the harassers and the public view your 'horrible' misconduct was simple. Next was simply getting the videos that the few people I had set up to record and give it to a contact of mine that works for the news company was just another easy matter. I gave him specific orders to make you out as the villain, to make you be in the wrong. From there your defamation was shown publicly and you being expel from the school would become an inevitable outcome. After all, no self-respecting school would allow for such an infamous student to be on their grounds. Especially if it interfered with the applications of future potential students and received a bad reputation."

"…"

"But I didn't need to do this to get you out of the school. All that hard work for such a simple task could've been done by simply manipulating the school staff into doing what I wanted—no, this was in order to prevent the biggest obstacle of this entire plan. The one who could ruin everything and keep you bound on such a tight leash that it would make it impossible to make a move without her crippling me or even killing me for what I was about to do to her children."

Shirou frowned at the words, then his eyes widened as he realized who 'her' could be.

"Mom…? Mom… would've stopped you…?"

"Of course, she would rather let this entire world burn over, than let her children suffer. That's the mentality she gained after she saw what it was like to be a mother. She grasped this aspect of her life with great fervor, enjoying the fact that she was a mother. It was because of this that I had to find a way to get around her. She could destroy everything I worked for and she could turn any negative influence against you into a positive one by doing exactly what I did to you. By influencing the public into forgetting what had happened—but only if what had happened was localized.

Its why I had to make your downfall so negative. That's why it had to be done in such a dramatic manner. With your violent actions being broadcasted all over Japan, posted all over the internet for the world to see and used as the primary example of violent delinquents or bullies in schools, your mother would have no choice but to take a step back and let the consequences of the situation settle in. Your mother's influence was finally diverted, and her actions would be limited. Even when she found out the truth just a day before your departure to this city, it was far too late. The situation was beyond her power to control."

Silence, that was the very thing that had befallen the living room.

"…y"

Kiritsugu frowned and leaned forward. "What?"

"Why… why do all of this…"

Shirou frowned at how pathetic he sounded, but he couldn't muster the anger to rise up anymore. The man who he called father, the man he had placed all his trust and admiration for—had betrayed him and swept away all his anger, replacing it with a state of loss and confusion.

He only wanted to know why the man would go this far.

"Because the ideal I've live by demanded it. Because it was necessary."

"Necessary…?"

"Tell me Shirou, you have lived here for a couple of days already. You must have heard of the weird occurrences that have been happening all over the place, right? The infamous 'Mental Shutdown Cases'?"

Shirou squinted his eyes as the name rang a bell. At first, he wondered about its significance—then he remembered once hearing about some people talking about during his ride on the train and sometimes on the news.

Kiritsugu took note of his expression and nodded. "Those cases have been a plague to this world for two years now. People dying left and right with no rhyme or reason. Deaths that occurred in such an unnatural way that it makes it impossible for it to be traced back. The body count just keeps on rising more and more with no sign of stopping or of anyone capable of solving it."

The young man looked at his father with an unreadable expression. Then he looked down as if realizing something important.

"You did all of this… to stop something like that."

"Yes, I already told you that my ideal is to be a Hero of Justice. It is a childish thing, but it is something that I have, and that I am willing to fight for. Solving this situation was of the utmost importance. Everything I sacrificed was for this. Your happiness, your future and even your free will. It was all for this."

Shirou looked down at the floor, his will crumbling. His body felt wet and sticky as hot droplets of sweat rolled down his body. Feelings of inadequacy and doubt gnawing at his very core. Feelings from long ago resurfaced, and the heartfelt words of the man that inspired him to be the best brother for Illya echoed in his head—

_…I'll always be there for you and Illya. No matter what, I'll fight tooth and nail to keep you two kids smiling and happy. Always…_

"Was it all a lie… all these years…?"

Kiritsugu's expression faltered for a single second at the honest question and revealed the look of a shocked father. But the redhead paid it no mind as he was just focusing on the inevitable confirmation that everything he had experienced since his adoption was indeed one big lie.

"…"

"… dad… tell me."

"…Shirou get up." Kiritsugu said, his voice slightly tight, and his cold exterior returning after being blindsided and refusing to waver again.

"Dad."

"Get up from the floor right now. If you have lost the will to go on after this point then that means this operation was a failure."

Shirou looked up and bared his teeth. "Why should I care, huh? When you're telling me all of this stuff! Why would I help you if everything up until now was all a lie—!"

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "Because if you don't show the spine to keep going with this, then you leave me with no choice, but to use Illya to complete the task."

The redhead's eyes widened in shock at the admission. He didn't even notice when he had jumped to his feet and charged at the TV. His hands gripped the plasma TV by the edges and his gold-brown eyes glared heatedly at the cold façade of his father.

"Don't you dare!"

Kiritsugu stared right into the young man's eyes, measuring, and judging him. After a few minutes the man nodded and took another drag from his cigarette.

"Then you know what you have to do."

"I really don't." The redhead frowned at his father and stepped back, his eyes glaring right into his father's own. The man closed his eyes and responded.

"Your primary objective is to solve the Mental Shutdown cases. Secondary objective is to find all information concerning that alternate world and deliver it to Maiya for research on how that other world works. So that we may prevent another case like these Mental Shutdowns from happening again. Maiya will in turn provide all kinds of information concerning the magical world in order to help you. Once the primary objective is done, you will be pulled from Tokyo and returned to Fuyuki in the safe hands of your family."

Shirou flinched at the off handed way the man referred to as 'your family'. His dad had just excluded himself from his family and that hurt more than he was willing to admit. He looked at the man with a glare and felt his heart clench tightly from the pain. In the end, he still held affection and respect for his father. Even though he was doubting what was real and what was just lies.

Yet, he still held onto that love for the man who had saved him and given him a family. He still desperately wanted to hold on to that feeling.

"You say that... so easily dad…"

Kiritsugu took a long drag form his cigarette, exhaled the smoke and put the cigarette away.

"You will receive help from Maiya, Shirou. There's no need to worry, as long as you have access to that other world we can solve this case." Shirou clicked his tongue, looked down and shook his head, as the man misunderstood his meaning. He was ready to correct him, but— "Of course, Maiya has already informed me of the girls who ended up with you in that other world, and as well as the other young men who went after you. Tomorrow morning Maiya will interrogate the two male suspects and make the girls forget anything that hap—!"

"No, you won't!" Shirou exclaimed in a burst of anger, as he glared at the man. "You won't interrogate anyone or do what you did to me on Shiho or Ann!"

"This is not up for negotiation Shirou, those girls will get in the way of your investigation, and if there exists any possibility that those boys have anything to do with this case, then—!"

"They don't! End of story!"

"Shiro—!"

"I said enough dad! They don't have anything to do with the cases! As a matter of fact they helped me get out of that place alive! And they stopped—!" Shirou cut himself off as he glared at the floor, memories of the monstrosities and how Ann had nearly payed the worst outcome both in the real world and in that cognitive world. "I don't care what you think about them dad…but if you do anything to them, you'll regret it. You hear me?"

The young man glared defiantly at his father, a hot fire of rebellion burning deep within him.

"…" Kiritsugu just looked at him in silence, then nodded. Shirou sighed and took an uneasy breath. He looked at his dad with tired eyes and gritted his teeth.

"Why are you making me do all of this dad…Why didn't you do all of this by yourself? Why did you need some teenager to do your dirty work for you? You can't go and fight for that ideal of yours by yourself?"

Kiritsugu leaned back, if he was surprised by the direction the young man had gone in, then he didn't show it. But Shirou could tell he had caught him off guard. The tightening of his jaw was an indication of whenever mom did something that surprised him.

"…"

"Tell me right now dad. Are you just that lazy…or are you scared of doing this stuff by yourself?"

"…I don't have the means to enter into that world."

"What!?" Shirou looked at him with a distraught expression. "Then how did you…?"

"How did I do all of this? A valid question to ask when I had no idea such a world for the longest time I was simply running into things half cocked and not understanding the great scheme of this situation. All my attempts to stop the cases ended up in failures, murders that happened at random, and leads that led to nowhere. Nothing, but dead ends in front of me and dead bodies. In truth, I was at the end of my ropes and patience…but then 'he' came in."

"He?"

"Yes, the man who revealed to me the nature of this case. An observer of what he likes to call a 'game'. 'The man with the Big Nose' he called himself."

"The man with the Big..." Shirou with wide eyes muttered in bewilderment and looked at his father in disgust. "This guy sees death as game…? Why would you even listen to someone like that!?"

"That man contacted me, his intel was superb as he cornered me through a simple phone call that I failed to trace back the two times he managed to contact me. His call came to me at my worst moments, when the frustration and despair of failure hit me the hardest. At first I refused to listen to his offer, to do what some unknown element wanted me to do…but the cases were leaving me with no choice and I needed to take a risk.

The second time he called was a surprise, but something that I had come to realize needed to happen. I was weary, but his information and offer left me with no choice in the matter. I couldn't refuse him, because I had already failed to make any progress for nearly two years. So, in that moment I decided to take a plunge, and accepted his offer."

"… You accepted his offer…and it was what? To hurt Illya?" Shirou asked bitterly, his fist clenched tightly. The man closed his eyes, as if not bearing to look at his son any longer.

"No, the offer was you Shirou, to use you as my most vital and only playing piece in this supposed 'game'. I analyzed the situation, and like I already told you, I refused him. It was simply too foolish to rely on a child on matters as important as this…but I soon learned that you were my only betting chip. So, it was just a matter of making the most out of you and trap you into doing this without any way out." Kiritsugu admitted with dark tone, his face as steady and firm as a glacier. "The choice was made and here we are. It was simply the most efficient thing to do."

Silence blanketed the room. Dead silence that made the two males feel an awkward itch on the back of their necks.

"You did all of that… you hurt the entire family because some man who sees this… this thing happening, where people die as a game… you threw away everything because someone like that told you to dad?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I did." The redhead felt suddenly far too tired as his mood, the room and everything around him darkened. However, nothing was blacker than the eyes of his own father as he spoke his final piece—

"Shirou, you are far too important as of now for this case. You are a vital tool that I need…

Yes, a tool of Justice who commits evil in order to bring results. That's what you are Shirou."

The young man froze as he heard the callous designation the man gave him. He looked up and saw the aloof expression on the man's face. Shirou looked down opened his mouth to respond, closed it and then just let out a shaky cold breath.

"A tool…huh…"

"…"

"That's what you see me as." He stated, not even bothering to find any confirmation or hold on to hope. He looked up and saw his father's tight expression, the emotion swirling in his eyes—but he ignored them, not caring for any regret or whatever emotion the man felt at that moment. "Fine… it's fine. Everything was just a lie…right…"

_…I'll always be there for you and Illya. No matter what, I'll fight tooth and nail to keep you two kids smiling and happy. Always…_

"Just a lie…"

Kiritsugu gritted his teeth and leaned forward, his voice cracked a little."Shiro—!"

"No dad… just… no." Shirou interrupted him quickly as he took a step back. His expression firmly placed into a frown. "I get it, I really do… everything was just a fake image you put up for me… everything was just one big lie…"

"…" Kiritsugu's cold expression cracked slightly as he looked down at the young man with emotions on his eyes.

"I'll play along with whatever you want me to do da…yeah…" Shirou trailed off and looked down, the words father and dad left a bitter taste on his tongue. "But I'll only do it for her, for Illya. I don't know if what I feel for her is genuine…or if it is just something you did with your magic or whatever…"

"Shirou… everything you feel for Illya i—!"

"I said to shut up." The words came out so firmly that the older man was rendered silent in surprise. "I'm not going to hear another word out of you… not anymore."

"…" Kiritsugu only sat there and watch as his son turned away from him and walked away.

"I know where I stand with you…I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll do it to keep Illya safe. Just like you wanted so badly…but I'll do it for my own sake. Because…because even though I can't say for certain where I stand with her on all of this…"

An image of a smiling Illya appeared before him, and his heart became elated with delight.

The image morphed to the one his father had reduced his dear sister to—one wracked with guilt and tears, and his heart clenched in distress.

"But I'll keep being her big brother…the one she always had. I'll protect her from everything just like a big brother should do. Most importantly, I'll fight tooth and nail to protect her smile and her happiness from adults like you."

Shirou turned towards his father and caught the harsh flinch the man gave at the words. The reaction gave the redhead no satisfaction nor did it make him pity the man. Because he meant every word he had said.

"…" Kiritsugu didn't utter a word as he looked down. Shirou took it as his cue to leave.

He passed by Maiya, barely sparing her a glance as he went for his room. He stopped when the woman grabbed his forearm, he glared at her aloof expression. Maiya remained stoic and unmoved by his furious glare.

"While you may trust your classmates for whatever reason, do not speak to them about the matters of magic. For their own safety."

Shirou gritted his teeth and tore his arm out of her hold. "Don't you dare threaten the—!"

"I'm not threatening anyone. I'm giving you a fair warning. Magic is a secret art in this world. Something that the normal populace doesn't know. There are others who use magic in this world, and one of the most powerful organizations for these individuals have all gathered under an Association. If they caught wind that civilians know this secret, it could end quite badly for them, their families and anyone the Association determines to be a risk. So for their safety, and yours, keep your mouth shut about this matter."

The redhead's eyes widened at the reveal that there existed more people who could use magic. Then he shook his head and he slumped forward, more tired than ever after all the weird occurrences this day had offered to him.

So, he just nodded and turned away from the two adults. In a robotic manner, he went for his room, closed the door gently behind him and let himself fall on his bed. He didn't even bother changing his clothing as his body felt heavy and his eyes stung in need for rest.

"Everything was just a lie…" He muttered as everything turned black.

_He stared down at his own bloodied hands and did not flinch._

_He stared down at his fellow students, their bodies bleeding, bruised, and unflinching._

_He stared down at the blue haired student he had once called a friend. The very same student whose jaw was dislodged and whose teeth scattered on the floor._

_He stared down at the horrified crowd of students and parents as they pointed fingers at him. The mother of one of the downed students even swore revenge on him… and yet he did not flinch._

_He stared down at the horrified and guilt filled expression on Illya's expression. Her big red round eyes brimming with tears. Her small body shook with nothing, but guilt for something she shouldn't have blamed herself with and…_

_… he looked away…_

_"O-Onii-chan…! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

_"It's a-all my f-fault! I-I…!"_

_"It's because of me that you can't go to school… isn't it?"_

_"…Sella-Onee-chan is always glaring at you because I made you do that…I'm sorry…"_

_"…mama should be punishing me… not you O-Onii-chan…"_

_"I shouldn't be calling you Onii-chan…should I… i-it's because of me that I ruined your life…!"_

_"I've been a bad sister…" The small girl declared with tears streaming down her face. Her expression broken and racked with guilt as she turned around and ran away before he had the chance to tell her how wrong she was…_

_…so, he chose to pursue her…_

_…pursue her until he found she disappeared into an abysmal darkness…_

_…he looked at the darkness with wide eyes and approached it…_

_Two bright yellow eyes snapped opened and illuminated the darkness._

_Shirou Emiya stared at a bound and chained Shirou Emiya._

_The one with yellow eyes sneered at him. His stance tall and defiant despite all the bondage on his body._

**_"You are a slave."_ **

_Those words for some reason, hurt far more than even the fact that Illya was wracked in guilt and in tears back home._

_It hurt more than the knowledge that she was blaming herself for something he had thought was his fault._

_It hurt more than learning about his father's betrayal._

_It hurt more than when his father said he was just tool._

_It hurt so much, because he knew—_

_He knew—_

_"I know…I know…"_

_Then everything went black._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! It's been quite some time, huh? Well that's to be expected when TWO HURRICANES decided to pay Puerto Rico a visit. Geez, that was terrifying, especially Maria, that one nearly tore the windows out of my apartment room. Hope Lord Naruto and any reader who had to suffer from any hurricane are doing okay.
> 
> So yeah, due to the lovely hurricanes I was force into a hiatus. With no power source for like three months I had to stop all production on my writing. Hell, when I got the chance to get back to writing I was so bum out thanks to the experience and all the bad news I had to hear through the radio that it really sucked away any want I had for writing.
> 
> This chapter went through like four rewrites due to this fact. Almost all of the reasons for the rewrites was because how dark this chapter was supposed to be, but like I said, hearing all the bad news through the radio kinda kill my need for going to dark. I had to scrap the original plan of this chapter being a mostly flashback focus chapter center on Kiritsugu. One reason for doing this was because the flow of the chapter didn't mesh well with the story and the other was because it revealed way too many details for future events that I would like to get to.
> 
> But, that's for then, as for the now—I believe I did a good job, or at least I hope I did. This chapter was though to write, with College classes being my main priority and then going back to fixing stuff around the home and then becoming accustom with living without any power well…this chapter became a hassle. But I got it through and I'm glad for it. So, I'm happy to be back and I thankful to see more people who wished to read this story of mine.
> 
> But I noted a few concerns here and there. One of them being about the Servants, no need to worry so much about that for now, the Servants will be getting their own rules and limiters when the Phantom Thieves gather more intel on them. But that will have to be in a future chapter.
> 
> As for Akira's personality, well Shirou doesn't know him that well and hasn't see 'beneath the mask' so to say. Right now has you could surmised, he's acting as his cocky Joker self since he saw a brother in arms in Shirou when he defied Kamoshida and later when they were in the Metaverse. Character development will come after I establish a working relationship between the characters.
> 
> Oh, almost forgot, I updated Chapter 1 with a new Interlude. Since this chapter has already given away the reason for Shirou being here, I thought best not play that coy over what has happened with Big Bro Shirou. It doesn't reveal everything, but gives out obvious hints at foul play for the redhead's reason for being in the Persona 5 story line.
> 
> So I gotta ask for all Persona 5 fans who are reading this story, what you think of Joker's new name? Ren Amamiya, it sounds like a good name to me, I don't mind it. Just gotta get use to it!
> 
> And also what are your thoughts on the A-1 pictures doing the anime for Persona 5? This bit has me quite worry that they'll screw it up, even though the teaser looks lit as hell.
> 
> Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Have a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Years. Until next time, Adios!


	9. Chains of Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta by Crossovernaru & Nikon Asturias

Shirou Emiya woke up, eyes bloodshot, his body stiff and his mind restless.

_…Yes, a tool of justice who commits evil in order to bring results. That's what you are Shirou…_

He went to the bathroom, having just noticed that he had slept in his school uniform—but didn't care as he peeled off the clothing to prepare for the day.

_…Yes, a tool of Justice who commits evil in order to bring results…_

He stepped outside, his body feeling refreshed— although, his mind was still far too hammered down to be ready for the day. He decided to skip breakfast. Right now, he had no desire to see Maiya for the day.

_…That's what you are Shirou…_

He made it to Shujin Academy, his expression stoic and his ears deaf to the world. The only sound that registered in his mind was—

**"YOU ARE A SLAVE!"**

* * *

_4/15 Afternoon, Afterschool_

Shirou blinked as his awareness finally returned for the first time in the day. He looked out the window of his classroom observing as the orange sky signaled the beginning of dusk.

"What are you doing here Emiya?" The young man turned towards Mr. Ushimaru, who glared at him with his bitter sneer. "Classes are over boy. I won't have you loitering around my classroom. Get out!"

"Right…" Shirou mumbled as he stood up, grabbed his school bag and walked towards the classroom door. He opened it and—

**"YOU ARE A SLAVE!"**

Shirou stiffened as he saw himself bound in chains. His reflection frowning at him with expectation. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as those sickly yellow eyes kept their focus on him. He could feel them see past his physical body and delve into the depths of his being. Burning with the desire for an answer to an age old question.

_Why?_

He could give only one answer to that.

He turned away.

"Emiya! What are you still doing here!?"

He looked away from himself and back to his teacher who was giving him a mean look. He rounded back to where his bound reflection was, but found nothing but empty air. He quickly turned around again, bowing his head, followed by a shudder escaping his lips.

"Sorry."

He then quickly made his way out to avoid any further trouble.

The murmurs and words of the student body were muffled to Shirou's ears. He didn't even bother to try and listen to them. He glared forward, ready to leave the school and be alone.

_…Yes, a tool of justice that commits evil in order to bring results. That's what you are Shirou…_

He clicked his tongue and shamelessly roared out his frustration inside his mind.

_'Dad…'_

_…the offer was you Shirou. To use you as my most vital and only playing piece in this supposed 'game'…_

_'Why…'_ He stopped walking and pulled out his phone. _'Mom…she didn't know what dad was doing…I wonder how she is…'_

He stared at the screen of his phone with a solemn expression, his finger tapping the call application. He scrolled down until he found the contact for home. He frowned as he noticed that his hand was trembling—and his heart was clenching tightly within his chest.

_'What if he was lying though…? Mom didn't know…or is he lying to me? I mean, why hasn't she called me? She should've called me to check in to see if I was alright…right?'_

Beads of cool sweat rolled down his temple, his thoughts continuing to assault his mind.

_'Are they all lying to me? How many times did dad use his magic on me…? Was anything I did—"_

**"YOU ARE A SLAVE!"**

Shirou's amber eyes widened as he heard his own voice roar at him from behind. Twisting around, he expected to see his reflection glaring at him-

but all he found was a concerned Shiho looking at him.

"Shirou-kun! Are you okay? You completely zoned out!"

"H-Huh…!?" Shirou blinked a couple times as he stared at her with bewilderment. He looked around and took notice of some of the students who had been murmuring amongst themselves while walking through the hallway. Most of their gazes were being focused on him, but quickly averted their eyes when he looked back. He clicked his tongue and his hold over the phone tightened as he realized how deep in thought he had been.

"Shirou-kun?" Shiho's concerned voice drew him back towards her and he gave the young woman a strained smile.

"I'm okay, just sorta out of it."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah…" Shirou looked down as the concern in her gaze became too heavy for him to bear.

"Are you sure, Shirou?"

He was slightly caught off guard by the way she said his name. The concern, determination and fierceness of it was something that she hadn't shown before. It made him wonder if her experience in that other world changed the downtrodden girl into the more confident version standing before him.

"I…" Still, he became a little flustered at how his name rolled off of her tongue. He just nodded at her and averting his gaze. "Yeah, it's just... everything that happened yesterday, you know?"

Shiho's eyes brightened in realization, nodding in agreement to his words. Internally, Shirou was relieved that she believed what he had said—after all, he technically wasn't lying to her. Yesterday had been a very heavy day for everyone.

"So are you going to the rooftop then?" Her sudden question caught him off guard and he tilted with an uncertain look on his face.

"The rooftop… why would I go there?"

"Didn't Sakamoto-kun tell you about the meeting we would have at the rooftop? I swear he told me that he told everyone. Especially you since you're in the same class."

"Oh…I guess I wasn't really paying much attention then…" Shirou looked away with a frown. He silently cursed himself for not being more aware of his surroundings.

"Shirou…" Shiho's concern for him was returning and he immediately spoke up to stop her.

"So, what's this meeting about?"

The dark hair girl looked at him with a frown. "It's about what happened yesterday. We're going to talk about what we're going to do."

"Oh…" Shirou walked beside her. "Yeah…that seems like a smart thing to do…"

Shiho glanced at him, stopping him as she grabbed his forearm. "Shirou are you really okay? If you don't want to come—!"

"Don't worry Suzui-san I'm really okay, come on let's go." He gently took his arm out of her hold, and made his way to the stairs leading to the rooftop.

Shirou just sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

_'I much prefer staying here than going back to that apartment…'_

"Shirou-kun! Shiho!"

The two teenagers looked ahead to find Ann waiting for them by the stairs. The blond gave them a small wave, with her other hand holding tightly onto her phone. Shiho smiled warmly as she hastily approached her friend, whilst Shirou walked calmly behind her.

Ann looked at Shiho with a small smile, then to the young man and her eyes narrowed with fiery fury. "You guys ready? I want to get this meeting going already. That bastard Kamoshida needs to pay."

Shiho nodded and places a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder. "We'll make sure he never gets the chance to hurt you or anyone else again."

"Yeah, I know Shi—!" She suddenly froze, staring at something behind both Shiho and Shirou.

"Takamaki-san?" Shirou asked slightly confused. He followed the direction of her gaze to get a look at what made the girl freeze in shock—

The moment he laid eyes on him, he understood why his classmate was locked in place. Shiho went beside Ann to shield her, baring her teeth and tightly clenching her hands as she growled out—

"Kamoshida."

The creep who had nearly raped Ann noticed the stares he was being given. He flinched, unconsciously looking away in embarrassment and shame at his victim and the two who prevented the event. His body stiffened, and he turned towards them. His eyes darkened in anger as he gave them a barely contained sneer. He then shook his head and walked away calmly.

"Damn it…damn it…" Ann's mumbling made the two turn towards her, and Shiho went to give her a hug.

"Ann…"

"Damn it… I was so pumped to kick that asshole's face in…but just looking at him makes me freeze up… goddamn it… am I really this weak…?"

"Ann you're not weak." Shiho said, leading them up the stairs with a pained look on her face. "Come on, let's go and see what we can do to take him down."

Shirou watched them go up the steps, his expression solemn. He looked back to where Kamoshida had walked away and—

—came face to face with his yellow eyed reflection. For the first time since its first appearance, his doppelganger did not sneer at him. Its eyes were stoic as it tilted its head. The fake seemed amused.

**"Are you a slave?"**

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* * *

The air felt cool on the school's rooftop, sending shivers up the teenagers' spines. The two girls sat atop of a small table with Morgana sitting between them. Shirou and Ryuji sat in some chairs while Akira chose to stand as he overlooked the meeting.

"Lady Ann, Shirou, you aren't coming with us to the palace."

The blue-eyed black cat's words were plain and simple, yet laced with arrogance.

"What?!" Ann's shrill scream made the stoic feline jump back and flee into Akira's school bag.

"…" Akira twirled some of his dark locks as he grimaced at the clear anger on the blonde's face. Ryuji only grumbled.

"Listen Takamaki, you can't come 'cause you'll just get in the way!"

Ann rounded on him with an angry sneer on her face. "Screw you Sakamoto! I'm not staying out of this!"

"Ann…" Shiho reached up and placed a calming hand on her friend as she glared at the fake blond. "Sakamoto-kun, do you have to be such a jerk when you say things like that?"

"Huh…" Ryuji looked down as he lightly kicked dust off the floor. "Shit, sorry… but still, you gotta agree that Emiya or Takamaki going to the Palace is way too dangerous."

"I agree." Akira cut in quickly before any argument could break out. He adjusted his glasses looking at Ann and nodded. "I know that out of everyone here, you're the most deserving in getting a shot at taking down Kamoshida, but Ryuji's right. We can't take the risk of you two getting hurt if we are too busy fighting. Besides, how much time would it take us to get to the treasure Morgana?"

His episode now behind him, the cat strutted forward, and looked up at the frizzy haired teen. "I don't know. It could be a pretty long journey. Further reason why I'm saying not to take Lady Ann and Shirou. Plus, it's also why I told you to buy as much medicine and bandages as you could!"

"I know…" Akira sighed with a grimace. "I completely wasted all the money I brought from home…"

"Hey, that's not wasting! That's money well spent!"

Everyone ignored Morgana's indignant cry as Shiho resigned herself to her fate, and returned her focus back to Ann.

"Ann, I think you really need to sit this one out."

The blonde gasped in shock, as she looked at her friend. "Shiho?"

"Come on, you saw how dangerous that place was Ann! Did you forget how badly Shirou was hurt?" Shiho gestured towards the silent and observant redhead, then her face fell into a grimace. "And… and how you were almost…"

Ann flinched as she looked away, a shiver crawling up her spine. Ryuji frowned as he saw how much the girl had been traumatized by her experiences from yesterday.

"Son of a bitch…" He couldn't help but swear at his old friend's current predicament. "Listen Takamaki, we'll kick that assholes shit in for you! But you just gotta stay out of this! We can't be worrying about you going all gun-ho in that place."

Akira turned towards Shirou, "What about you Emiya-san? You've been quiet since we got this meeting going."

The redhead looked to Akira and noticed how everyone's eyes focused down on him.

"I…"

**"Are you a slave?"**

The echoing question made him wince and avert his gaze. He groaned a little at the slight headache he got.

"Shirou?"

He looked up at Shiho as her concern for Ann shifted back towards him.

"I'm fine… really." Shirou assured her. He then redirected his gaze back to Akira. "And I agree. Us going with you would just slow you guys down. If it means that you can get this over with quickly, then all the better, right?"

The glasses wearing teen nodded, though he kept his grey eyes focused on the redhead, as if wanting to see through him. After having enough of making Shirou fidget where he was. he let up his gaze and looked at the rest.

"Then it's settled. Lets end this today. I want to capture that treasure as soon as possible." Akira said seriously, his eyes narrowing. "Kamoshida's already tried to rape someone just because he thought he could get away with it—!"

"The asshole probably still thinks he can…" Ryuji cut in with a sneer.

Akira nodded at him and looked at the group. "Yeah, and if he's thinking like that then its possible he'll try again. We can't let him do that. We'll need to finish things quickly to keep Takamaki-san, Suzui-san, and every other girl in this school safe."

"Nyaha!" Morgana jumped right into the middle of the group and forced their eyes on him. "That's why I designated you as our leader Akira! You've got a good head on your shoulders, as well as a chivalrous to heart. Though you still have much to learn from me."

"What the hell would a stupid cat know about any of that?" Ryuji snapped with incredulity.

"What was that you stupid monkey?"

As the argument grew more heated, Akira looked at the rest of the teenagers there. "Suzui-san, we'll show you more about how to use your powers along the way."

"Okay, I'll try my best not to be a nuisance."

The young man nodded and looked at Ann and Shirou. "When we're done, we'll let you know what happened. Okay?"

"…" Ann just looked away, her face tight with anger at being denied her chance at revenge.

"Yeah." Shirou nodded as he watched Akira break up the fight between the 'delinquent' and the cat, while Shiho walked off with Ann. The redhead sighed, looking down solemnly at the floor. He figured it was better for him to not get involved in that either.

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* * *

In the alley in front of the school gates, Ann and Shirou stood a safe distance away from the rest of the small band of thieves as they prepared to enter the palace. Morgana was the expert in navigating the Metaverse and told them to steer clear when they enter into the cognitive world. Shirou watched them blink out of existence with a bewildered expression.

_'That looks so much weirder from the outside…'_ He looked away from the spot where the self-proclaimed thieves, courtesy of Morgana and cheered on by Ryuji, disappeared and focused on Ann. Her eyes were narrowed as she glared at the spot where the others had disappeared. He felt a sudden compulsion to reach out and help her. "Takamaki-san are…"

"Not now Emiya-kun… I … I really don't want to talk." Ann turned towards him and smiled forcefully. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Shirou frowned, but nodded and turned away from her. He felt useless, not knowing what to do—but he wanted to do something, anything so that he wouldn't fall into the palms of what 'he' wanted. He didn't want to be—

_…Yes, a tool of justice who commits evil in order to bring results. That's what you are Shirou…_

He clicked his tongue as he walked out of the alley. It would take him some time to get to the train—

**"ARE YOU A SLAVE!?"**

The loud and powerful voice screamed at him and caused him to flinch back violently, slamming into the wall behind him. His golden-brown eyes darted from left to right, erratically searching for his bound doppelganger, but he froze when his eyes locked with the captive yellow eyes of his shadow directly in front of him.

His shadow tilted his head, sneering at him, as he gestured with his head back to the direction he came from.

**"Are you a slave?"**

Shirou took a deep breath and blinked.

The chained version of himself disappeared. He looked around, wondering why the most recent question felt as if it had hit close to home. He gritted his teeth glaring at the floor, before his eyes followed where his shadow had gestured.

He saw Ann, fiddling with her phone. He raised an eyebrow when he heard her give out a startled cry and then disappeared.

"Oh… no…" His eyes widened at the implication as her ran to where she disappeared. His feet skidded on the floor as he came to a stop.

"Did she have that Metaverse app too!?"

He clenched his teeth and immediately went for his phone. He started looking for the app, and quickly activated the bizarre application, waiting for the female voice to ask him for the destination.

"Takamaki-san just what the hell are you doing!?"

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* * *

The first thing Ann did when she realized she was inside of Kamoshida's distorted world was shiver in disgust. The feeling of the man's arrogance and lust, crawling over her. She shook the sensation off, and ran forward, looking around any means she could use to gain access into the castle. She made her way towards the giant front doors. She placed a hand on it and began to push with all her might.

"Urgh, come on, Ann. You can do this. One, two—three!" At that moment, the door finally opened. She stumbled forward in surprise, but quickly regained her footing. Placing both hands on her knees, she tried to breath air back into her lungs. The blond was surprised at how the door opened so easily. Looking back, she could not help, but mumble to herself, "Whoa, is this meta world making me super strong or somethi—!"

Her eyes widened in shock as she was met with the cold and expressionless helm of one of Kamoshida's knights. The knight stared at her as he held the door open.

"Princess?" The knight asked in confusion before it straightened up and reached for his sword. "No! You're that imposter!"

"Wha—what!?" Ann took a step back as the knight menacingly marched forward with his blade drawn. "For real!? I barely even got here!"

"Die faker!"

Ann closed her eyes and shielded her face. "Aaaah—!"

Her frightful scream was cut off when another body impacted her with a speedy tackle. She grunted as she and whoever tackled her rolled across the glittering and polished floor tiles. Once her body came to a stop she opened her eyes and looked at Shirou who quickly got to his knees with a panicked expression on his face. He looked down at her and hastily grabbed her by her arm, pulling her up to her feet.

"Come on!" Shirou shouted, as he heaved her onto her feet, running away from the knight.

"Hey! Come back here you filthy rats!" Ignoring the sentry's furious call, the two teens ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Shirou led her towards a luminous snowy door.

The redhead charged at it shoulder first, forcing it open to reveal a long hallway with many crates. The two continued with their escape as they heard their shade's unmistakably metallic footsteps.

Ann looked back and paled when she saw the knight gaining on them. "S-Shirou, he's right behind us!"

"Just run!" Shirou ordered as he took a sharp right at the end of the hallway and once more ripped open another door with a spiraling staircase. They ran up the steps careful not lose their balance despite their hasty attempts to escape their pursuer.

Luckily for them, the sounds of their pursuer footsteps disappeared. It seemed as they they had given it the slip as they continue to climb the stairs and reached its endpoint. Shirou and Ann burst through and the pair took a moment to catch their breaths and to examine their new environment. They had managed to make it to a floor above which lead to another long, and expensively decorated hallway with rows and rows of lavished and colorful windows to their right. At the end of it was—

"There's another one of those things!" Ann gasped as the two teenagers caught sight of another knight with his back to them. The girl was ready to collapse in despair at being trapped, as she knew the other knight would eventually climb up the stairs and catch them.

Shirou looked around in desperation. He had to remain calm… he had to think clearly. Before the voice came back… before the despair settles into his bones… he had to save Ann. He had to save her.

Catching a glimpse of the ornate glass windows, he dragged the blonde with him.

He refused to let her die.

"Come on!"

Moments later three knights came out of the staircase running through the hall. One of the knights stopped to look around.

"Search the rooms!" their commander bellowed. Its voice echoing roughly from the helmet. "Make sure they do not escape." The knight ordered as its companion obeyed and began their search. The knight at the end of the hallway noticed its compatriots and moved towards them.

"What's wrong? Are there intruders?"

"What!? Of course, there are! You were stationed here, so you must've seen them."

The knight looked down, "I… uh… didn't see anything."

"You fool! Word of your failure will reach the ears of King Kamoshida!"

Outside, on the thin ledge of the castle's walls were Ann and Shirou. Both had their backs pressed to the wall of the castle and refused to look down. The cold air kissed their skin as the wind echoed around them. Shirou took in a deep breath, and slowly turned his head.

_'Don't look down. Don't look down.'_

He turned his head gently, searching for another window, balcony, or any other way for them to get out of their current predicament.

He could not help, but curse his luck in that moment.

"Are you okay…?" He asked as he let his eyes wander towards the girl who was tense and frigid.

"…"

"Takamaki-san?" He questioned in concern as he made to reach for her. He stopped when the blonde girl gave him a shuddering look, eyes wet and teary-like.

"Just… just give me a sec…!" Ann let out a cold breath, her eyes wandering down in morbid curiosity.

"H-Hey, don't look down…!" Shirou whispered harshly, forcing the girl to look at him as he looked at her with concerned eyes.

"—Where are they!?"

The muffled voice of a knight made the two teenagers flinch and look at one another with dread. The redhead gestured towards his right.

"Let's just get out of here and find some place safe."

Ann nodded, and they began to move. Their feet slid slowly and clumsily through the ledge of the castle walls, careful not to make too much noise or to fall off. Ann stopped for a few minutes, closing her eyes and her body shivering as she tried to harden her resolve. Shirou couldn't blame her. He could feel his own resolve beginning to waver ever so slightly the longer they spent on the ledge.

Once they were on the move again, they chose not to speak. Both were far too tense and afraid of the consequences of losing even a second of their focus. Shirou gritted his teeth upon noticing the narrow ledge on the corner. He looked at Ann and saw that she had noticed it as well. She just let out a whimper, but nodded to herself in resignation and determination. Shirou took some solace in that, morbidly glad that he wasn't the only one loosing his cool with each passing second.

Minutes stretched as the two carefully turned the corner, mindful of the space the architecture had for their feet. But once that had passed Shirou saw something that made his heart leap with joy.

A balcony—he turned towards Ann.

"Come on…just a little more and we'll be out of here."

Ann looked at him, then let her eyes wander past him where she saw the balcony. Nodding sharply, they moved towards it.

Shirou being the one in front, reached salvation first. With tentative hands he grabbed the ornate railing and pulled himself up, while making sure to look around for any sign of knights. Fortunately, all he found was a small dark room full of crates and barrels. He jumped over the railing and turned towards Ann, offering a hand that she desperately took as he began to pull her up.

The two collapsed on the tile floors, sweating as the adrenaline left them, replaced instead with a nauseous anxiety. Both of their minds began to realize just how dangerous their situation was. They also realized the possibility of them dying in a place like this, and feelings of fear began to fill their bodies. Shirou turned towards Ann with wide eyes.

"What were you thinking!?" He grounded out causing the blond to flinch.

"I wasn't, okay! I…" Ann shook her head and looked down at the grossly glittering tile floors. Shirou just stared at her for a minute as he saw her try to regain her composure, he shook his head and looked at the room they were in. It was a little dusty but not much of a bother. All in all it seemed like a good place to take a breather.

"Takamaki-san, seriously…" The young man started as he turned towards her with a frown. "We had an entire meeting about this and why it was a bad idea… and then you nearly go and get yourself killed!"

"I know okay!" Ann answered furiously, her eyes moist and welled with tears. "You think I didn't see that!? I know how stupid it was to come here, but the truth is that I wasn't thinking at all! I just acted and… damn it… I almost got killed… this has to be the worst week ever…"

Shirou winced at her words and their meaning. He wisely chose not to make any further comments. Thankfully, another topic came to mind, "How did you even get to this place? I thought only Kurusu-san, Sakamoto-san, and I were the only ones that had the app to get to the Metaverse?"

The blonde looked up and took out her phone. She frowned and showed it to Shirou. There was no signal, but he recognized the signature symbol of the app's star within an eye. "I don't know how it happened… but when you started walking away, I checked my phone and found this. I kinda… acted without thinking and said all the keywords just like the others did before they entered this place."

As she said this, her body began to hunch over, as if the weight of the situation finally began to settle in.

The redhead scratched the back of his and looked at her phone weirdly. "Hrm… how did you even get that thing. I doubt there's someone downloa—!"

Shirou cut himself off as his mind flash backed to memories from last night and all the revelations he had received. He winced and frowned deeply as he thought of the event. This went unseen by Ann who tucked her phone away.

"I really don't know…but I'm really sorry for getting you into this mess Shirou." She bowed apologetically towards him. Shirou rubbed his hand across his face and shook his head.

"Don't worry about that now. We just have to find a way out of here. I have no idea how to navigate the area at all and have no clue how deep we are…"

"Hmm, me neither." Ann responded while looking at the side of the balcony, realizing exactly how high they were. "We're pretty high… did we really run up that many steps?"

"I didn't really keep count." Shirou said with a grimace as the girl turned away from the railing, towards him. "But we really need to get out of here."

As quickly as the words left his mouth, he saw a mass of tentacles coming from behind Ann. His eyes slowly widened in fear, as he remembered his past experience with them. Then the monstrosities struck like a viper, wrapping themselves around Ann.

"K-KYAAAAAAAA!" Her screams pierced the distorted sky as she was lifted up into the air, ready to be dragged down to wherever the tentacles had originated from.

"Takamaki!" Shirou threw himself forward, hands reaching out to get a hold of the slimy and writhing appendages. He ignored the squeamish feeling in his gut as he held on for dear life when the tentacles began to weave back and forth in a dizzying manner. Then they stopped, becoming stiff as a board.

Golden-brown eyes met bright blue, as both teenagers froze nervously waiting for what was going to happen next.

Then the monstrous limbs dropped down at high speeds towards their point of origin.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"GUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Twin cries echoed through the air as both teenagers were dragged down into the abyss located beside the base of the castle. Shirou's fingers were straining to hold onto the tentacles. He ignored the pain he was in as his nails dug deep into the flesh of the monstrous tentacle. At any other time, this would've made him empty his stomach. The limb was squishy and full of unknown fluids, but he did not care right now. Instead he chose to just hold on for dear life as he felt his ears ringing from being dragged into the abyss.

The mass of tentacles started to slow down as they neared their destination until they finally came to a stop. The redhead gasped in relief as their terrifying ride finally came to an end. He looked at Ann who was dazed and out of breath. Before he could ask whether or not she was okay, the tentacle he was holding on to swatted him away with a casual flick.

"S-Shirou!" Ann screamed.

Shirou gasped for air as Ann's words failed to reach him in light of the ringing in his ears. His back had crashed against a wet wall coated with slime, which he felt squishing beneath his weight.

Squish.

Squish.

Shirou slid down, gasping for air, his back throbbing in agony. He flinched from the pain, which by his estimates, indicated that he might have between one and five broken ribs.

Shirou gazed at the monstrosity that held Ann. The sight of the creature left him dazed and frozen in place. It could only be described as a mass of flesh that could not stop moving even the barest of muscle. It had bone protrusions bursting from its slick flesh, covered in an ooze that he could not even begin to describe. Yet that was not even the worst of it.

The smell… oh, God, the smell. It burned his nose and made him gag but even that was not the worse thing about it. No. There was a far more evil sensation he could sense emanating from it. It was death. Not the feeling of death that came with old age, or the the feeling that followed a traffic accident. Not even an addict's overdose or a battlefield had this stench of death.

The corpses around him had suffered a perversion, a twisted torture. He could see the pain in the eyes of the dead, their twisted mouths screaming the last agonizing remnants of their life. Their flesh peeling from their skin… their blood seeping from their bodies, their insides becoming outsides…these were horrors from the mind of a madman.

These were feats of pure evil.

Achievements that could only belong to such a foul voice.

"OOooooo—my saint, you have returned!"

Shirou knew the man who it had belonged to. Gilles de Rais, a knight formerly in the service of Joan d'Arc, the Saint of Orleans. Her most devout and loyal of followers who succumbed to madness after her death. A man who perverted the memory of the saint with his acts of depravity and evil.

That thing was not a man. Its eyes bulging like a fish, its hair was matted down from the blood of its victims, and its high-pitched voice carried like a clown's. If a clown was pure evil. Yes, this thing was undeniably true evil.

And it was standing right in front of Shirou before he could do anything to stop it.

"AAAAAaaaaaa! Is it not wonderful?" Gilles asked, with a joyous and honest smile as his hand casually gripped his neck. The madman easily lifting the boy from the floor with one arm, his hand squeezing tighter around his throat. His mad giggling swelled from his belly.

"Guuagh!" Shirou fought. He repeatedly smashed his fists against the arm, but it did not bulge. He tried to gouge out the fish-eyes but his arms failed to reach for them as he could feel his body weakening from the lack of air.

"The opportunity to see my saint's body! To see her blessed skin marred by the blasphemy of God! To see the fear in those piercing eyes!" Gilles was gleeful as his grip on Shirou's neck grew tighter. "This is the greatest thing I could ever ask for as a Servant!"

"Let him go you bastard!" Ann screamed as she tried to wiggle out of her grotesque bonds, but it bore no fruit. "You want me! So, leave him alone!"

The words had the desired effect as the mad man stopped strangling Shirou, letting him drop to the horrific floor without so much as a backward glance.

The redhead coughed roughly, his face blue, his eyes bloodshot and bulging with tears flowing freely. He didn't care how his clothing was soiled, and stained in the blood of Gille's victims, as he desperately tried to catch his breath. Each breath felt like they were his last and could only watch as the girl was at was at the mercy of this monster.

Gilles walked forward, the appendages holding Ann lowered her so that she could be equal eye level with him. The girl didn't stare at him as her eyes were focused solely on the coughing Shirou.

"Oh, my saint, even without your spirit being fully inside your body… you still show such compassion." He reached out and caressed her cheek tenderly. Ann recoiled from the touch with an ugly grimace. "But it is to be expected. Even such a despicable and deprived place like this cannot beat your radiant light. It is no wonder you appeared in this place, my saint."

"W-What…!?" Ann tried to pull back from the touch of the deranged man, but his long and pointy nails grasped her chin and forced her in place. "Gih—!"

"Palaces, my saint! Palaces are the heart of mankind! The place where depravity and blasphemy reign supreme! This is where man shows his true nature! No mask, no acting, no lies! Just the truth! It is a place where we Servants are attracted to!" Gilles smiled happily. "OooooOOOOO! AAA! But to believe you would get attracted to such a Palace like this one! Could it be…? That this was your inner and most personal desire? Yes, to think that I would have such an opportunity to see the holy woman fall to lust! Usually Servants like myself would have to settle for being summoned by the hands of mages for something like this to happen!"

Shirou, coughed and tried to regain his breath. His throat burning and his neck still sore, but he could still hear. And the words of the mad man made him fall back to his mind.

_'Mages…? Like… like dad…?'_

**"It always comes back to them, hm?"**

A ragged gasp escaped him as the voice that haunted his dreams for weeks echoed back into the recesses of his mind.

"W-what…?"

The mad man stopped his caressing as he finally heard Shirou behind him. The man turned towards him with a stoic expression, his bulging eyes focusing squarely at him.

"Oooh? I must have forgotten about you. An insignificant boy under the radiance of my saint."

**Snap!**

Shirou felt himself being wrapped in those same tentacles, as they started digging themselves into his body. His arms were each held by a tentacle, just like his chest and his legs, and he was struggling to breathe.

There was so much pain.

"Damn it let him go!" Ann shouted as she once more tried to struggle against the tentacles that held her. Gilles just gave her a sick smile, showing her all of his teeth, giddy at what she had said.

"But I cannot, my Saint. I cannot leave him whole. He shall join the others." He proclaimed with sick glee.

Two sets of eyes widened at his words, and fear spread through both of them.

"No... no, no!" Ann shivered, her eyes welling up with tears as she stared at the abyssal eyes of the madman with the smile of a child. "Stop! Please stop!"

"OOOOOOoo! He will be ripped limb from limb my holy maiden! His screams wet and visceral for our ears!" Gilles spread his arms in grandeur. "His corpse will be defiled by all of these fiendish and profane monsters! AAAA, yes, yes, yes! A clear preview for what awaits you holy woman! That is what this Palace of Lust demands! A place where even the most depraved acts of sexuality must be performed! OoOO…I didn't even know such pleasures existed until I felt the need to heed the call of such a depraved place! Even a Servant's resistance is incapable of denying the distortions brought to us!"

Shirou struggled violently while the mad man went on with his monologue. His school uniform was ripped, and his muscles protested in pain from the abuse, but he didn't stop. It was simple survival instinct screaming at him to escape or he would die, but he was not doing this for himself.

Those eyes of hers, Ann's eyes brimming with tears tore at his heart. A heat deep within him, ignited from the deepest parts of his soul, redoubling his efforts to escape. He growled with great ferocity, and roared with determination, using strength unlike anything he had ever performed. His muscles bulked up, his teeth grinding against each other and his heart was on fire as he screamed and fought to survive. The tentacles protested around his body, but he paid them no mind as he savagely struggled until—

Until he was freed!

The monstrosity let him go and he fell to his knees, the impact causing him pain, and causing his body to be covered in blood. But he did not care as he looked up to see a hopeful look in Ann's eyes and Gilles glancing at him with an apathetic look.

When he locked his gaze with the monster, the heat within grew in power until it became a raging inferno.

**"What will you do?"**

The answer was simple.

He charged forward, raising his fist and putting his entire momentum forward as he grew closer to the deranged monster before him. Gilles did nothing except turn fully towards him, staring at him with bulging eyes.

"Ooo…?"

Shirou gritted his teeth as he threw his punch with everything he had and—

Ended up tripping down on the blood-soaked floor. His body slipped forward pathetically, and he quickly tried to get to his feet in desperation.

"Gah—! GRAAAGHHH!" Shirou screamed loudly as the monsters that had captured them sprouted from the floor. Small protrusions bit into his arms and legs, bringing him down, as pain seared through his body again.

"SHIROU!"

The redhead looked down and felt his heart drop at the sight of demonic creatures with their innumerable teeth biting down hard on his limbs. He collapsed forward with a look of despair on his face and a soundless scream escaping his throat.

Gilles looked down at him, his face warm and eyes closed in childish glee. "Did you see that my holy maiden? The look on his face, the joy—the defiance? It was an expression that you yourself wore many times during our time together, yet it is not the same! Breaking that expression does not bring any pleasure! No! No! NO!"

Ann flinched as the bug eye man whirled towards her to once again grasp her face.

"Breaking that boy means nothing! Breaking a million like him means nothing! But…OOooo! AAAHHH! Breaking you has meaning! Breaking you will bring me untold pleasure…seeing that face of yours, almost brimming with tears makes me want to climax from the thought alone!" He shuddered at the twisted fantasy.

"You creep! Get the fuck off…!" Ann yelled out as she stared at Gilles with fear.

"But your defiance makes it all the better! Tell me body of the saint, was it that same defiance that lead you here? Was it exactly that which made you desire to come to this castle of depravity even though you had no means of protecting yourself?"

Ann recoiled back as if struck and looked down, her breathing haggard and eyes skittering as the tears began to fall. Gilles cooed at the sight.

"OOOOoo! So that what it was...just an act of defiance fueled with determination. It is truly you…but, I can't allow for the body to start having a personality when your spirit is running around. Fear not holy maiden, I will reunite the two of you and make you whole, so that I can break you ever so sweetly." The man turned towards Shirou who was slowly being surrounded by more and more of those abhorrent creatures, each drooling in excitement at their latest meal. "OOoo, the boy is going to die my saint! He will be feasted upon by a simple command! When should I do it!? When!? Tell me so I can see that tiny sliver of defiance break and shatter apart!"

"S-S-Shirou…" Ann cried and closed her eyes as she looked down in complete surrender and despair. "I'm so…so sorry…sorry…sorry…it's all my fault…sorry…"

Shirou barely conscious through the pain looked up at her.

_'Takamaki…don't cry…please…'_ He slumped down as the pain became even more unbearable. He took one last chance to look up and the twitching mass of monsters preparing to devour him. _'It hurts so much…everything hurts…and I'm going to die…I'm going to die for nothing…everything dad did to Illya would all be for nothing…'_

**"It always comes back to them, hm?"**

Shirou's eyes widened as everything slowed to a crawl.

The monsters, Gilles, Ann...it was as if their movement had stopped.

_'Wha…'_

**"Everything in your life is all about routine and repetition—like a well oiled machine. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that every impactful moment in your life leads back towards those you call family. Your family, the ones that you always look up to, who always reassure you with direction for your future, the ones who control your life. How you live and how you will die. It's their choice. ALL OF IT!**

**And you know why it's like that? Do You?"**

_'I…'_

**"…"**

_'I…'_

**"You are a slave."**

_'I…'_

**"You are a slave."**

_'I…'_

**"YOU ARE A SLAVE!"**

_'…'_

**"You are a slave to the expectations your family has of you. Like a dog following its master, you are always willing to bend over backwards to meet the expectations of everyone in your house. It's why they all view you as unworthy after all."**

_'…'_

**"Unworthy as a brother in the eyes of the infuriating petite maid, Sella. Unworthy in merit in the eyes of the lazy Leysritt. Unworthy to be taken seriously, reduced to nothing but the butt of the joke for the entire city of Fuyuki to bare witness to and be laugh at thanks to the supposedly harmless teasing from your mother.**

**And of course, unworthy of even being call son by the very man who you wanted to be like. The very man who violated your free will and chained you down like a dog to do his bidding and betrayed you. Casting you away like a used, wet tissue paper. And why wouldn't he?After all, a slave only obeys and tries to meet the expectations of its Master. A slave's desires mean nothing, because they are nothing. Right, Tool of Justice?"**

"Gih…'

**"How could a slave like you ever meet those standards when your always deemed unworthy in the eyes of the people who set them? The answer is simple... you can't. You'll never reach them, you'll never win! An unworthy and loyal dog like you will fruitlessly fight for those expectations…proving the simple fact that everyone and you yourself know...**

**That you're not worthy enough to be Illya's brother!"**

He could hear his world shatter apart at those words. He knew they were true. Shirou knew the truth now and he could accept it. The monsters could do nothing to hurt him now. He did not know if the tears were from the pain of his soul or his body being torn apart. Not that it mattered.

He was unworthy.

He was a slave.

He was two things he had never realized before, but deep down understood that he was.

He had tried to please both Sella and Leysritt as best he could, never even once caring how much his own selfish desires he had to throw away just to feel welcomed in the family.

He had let himself become the butt of the joke because it amused his mother, and he let himself become it, because loved seeing her happy. Even if she didn't realize how much it made him cringe and how much his self-esteem took a blow when she embarrassed him. It was because he loved to see her smile.

And his father…the very man he looked up to, who gave him a home and whom he was supposed to trust and be protected by. He was nothing more than a tool to him, a means to an end.

But above all of them, there was his sister. There was llya.

He grimaced as he wondered when had being a brother to her stopped being something he wanted to do—and turned into something that was expected for him to do, something that made him feel want to be worthy of…something to prove.

They expected a good brother for the true blood related child of the house and he tried to match them.

So, there was a question he had to answer.

Did he ever care for Illya? Or was it just another thing that was expected of him?

Was it just like with his father? Was it all one big lie?

.

.

.

.

_Shirou stared down at the little white haired toddler sleeping soundly in her crib. With curious fascination he reached a hand out towards her chubby cheeks and poked them. Little Illya opened her big red eyes, startled at the sudden touch._

_The boy took a deep breath as his little sister stared at him with nervous red orbs. He closed his eyes and waited for her to let out a wail and cry. He knew that this would get him a scolding from his parents, especially from the short maid but that wasn't what had him worried or upset._

_What had him upset was the fact that Illya could stare at him with such fear._

_He cringed and waited for the inevitable._

_... And waited..._

_... and waited._

_Then a giggle made him look up in surprise. What greeted him was Illya sitting up on her rump and reaching out to him with the biggest toothless smile she could muster._

_Shirou reached out to meet her halfway and his heart swelled up when Illya giggled happily as they touched hands._

_"On-cha! On-cha!"_

_The redhead smiled and went up to sit beside her, much to the delight of the tiny girl, and he was more than happy to make her smile. He wanted her to smile like that forever. That was what brother's did for their little sisters._

.

.

.

.

Shirou's eyes widened as the hurt and feelings of despair came to a halt when that memory once more resurfaced. He gritted his teeth and glared at the distorted and twisted reflection on the blood stained floor.

_'I don't care…!'_

**"You don't care? You don't care of what you are? A simple and unworthy slave who chained himself down to become some pushover for others to use?"**

_'I. Don't. Care. They can see, they can talk, and they can think what they want about me. But I'm not unworthy to be the brother Illya wants. The brother I want to be for her.'_

**"Even if it means betraying every single person in your family?"**

The image of his mother's teasing smile and easygoing personality came to mind.

The same for Sella's stoic and haughty look, and Leysritt deadpanned and lazy mannerism.

And of course, the image of his father's cold and unrelenting face passed through his head.

The mere sight of his face sealed away any hesitation and he could feel the burning desire to fight reemerge.

"Yes."

**"Hahaha! I see. What a marvelous rebellion! Tell me, what do you want? What do you so selfishly desire? Answer me this one question and I will give you the power of change. What do you want?"**

Shirou stared forward, towards the mad man cooing and Ann crying. His golden-brown gaze zeroed in on the blonde and the tears she spilled. The mere sight of it brought memories back to his sister crying and the man who made her shed those tears.

His will became fire and his body became steel. He would not give in. He would fight.

_'I want to stop him! I want to stop him from making her suffer! I want him to stop making her cry!'_

**"Ah, such a worthy resolve! Yes, I shall gladly pledge myself to you if its like this."**

"Guh!" A sharp and hot pain pierced Shirou's head and made him keel over in pain. Gilles smiled at the sounds of pain and looked at Ann with a cooing expression.

"Want to hear his screams be even louder my saint?"

"Please…stop…"

**"I am thou, thou art I…let this be the last time you allow yourself to be chained down by the expectations of others. Let it be the finale of Emiya Shirou, the unworthy pushover failure! Burn it, smash it, or slash it to pieces! It matters not, but it is time to stop looking for what you can do for others. Now is the time for you to do what you want!"**

"How could I? Let me pay tribute to you holy woman! By giving you the purest sound a human can make!" His words had signaled the monsters to begin their feast on Shirou's flesh.

**"Walk forward towards a future you want to have! Let the kingdom built around you collapse without care. No matter the consequences, no matter the choices, go onward for the tomorrow that you so selfishly desire! For that single justice you truly care about."**

Shirou's pained fuel body was engulfed by the creatures. Their gaping mouths, with their uncountable number of teeth closing on his flesh. The ones already biting him, began pulling—!

**"Let this flame burn through your veins! Let it burn and let it skewer this world from all the wretched who dare hurt what you wish to protect!"**

The monsters that wished to eat Shirou Emiya were disappointed. The moment they were going to consume him a blue fire had erupted. The horrors turned to ash and Gilles mad laughter faded with them.

"S-Shirou…?" Ann questioned as her eyes widened in recognition at what was happening. The image of Shirou Emiya kneeling on the floor, head bowed and body exuding the fire like blades in such a defiant-like manner inspired something deep within her.

A fire began to burn.

"W-What!?" Gilles took a few steps back as he saw what was happening.

What stood in front of them was not the Shirou who had been dying only moments before. His clothes were still tattered and torn, leaving his flesh exposed but the wounds brought by the abominations were no longer present, replaced by pale and unblemished skin. His face was covered by a black mask made of metal. It covered his face entirely, his eyes blind for anyone to see, just a black iron helm as dark and fierce as the defiant stance he was giving.

The only thing that Ann and Gilles saw was his frowning mouth and jaw squared in determination, the only bit of his face exposed to the world.

As the two took in Shirou's mask, the young man had been witness to something far different from behind the black mask.

_His skin struggled against the hot and burning air._

_His eyes tried to see and understand the dead and mechanical wasteland of swords._

_His mind screamed at him when he saw a man in red stand alone in the desolated world of endless weapons._

_And his ears…his ears heard the words the man in red said as he charged at him with weapons in hand._

Shirou Emiya didn't comprehend what he saw, but at the same time he didn't care.

He had more important things to worry about.

His fingers reached for the iron helm, grasped and began to pull. Blood began to gush out of his skin as he started to reveal his new face to the world and spoke unconsciously.

"Trace on! Mordred!"

And just like that, the hellhole he and Ann had been trapped into was ripped to shreds under the fire of Shirou's rebellion.

* * *

**—Interlude—**

**A new player for the game…**

_?_

It was dark.

It was cramp.

It was suffocating.

That's what he saw and felt.

He was the shadow of Shirou Emiya.

And…

He was a slave.

Except he wasn't, not anymore.

The him in the world that wasn't dark, cramp and suffocating had made a change.

He had finally chosen to fight.

He had chosen to rebel.

He had chosen to stop being a slave.

Because of it, his body burned with blue fire.

And because of such fire, it was no longer dark—he could finally see the other slave around him, that were just like him.

Because of the fire, it was no longer cramp—he could finally stretch as the other slave gave him space, not wishing to be touch by the flames of rebellion.

Because of the fire, it was no longer suffocating—he could finally breath air that was fresh, air that was his.

As such, he began to disappear.

The chains weighting him down broke.

The chains of captivity shattered.

The chains of this prison broke.

The chains that made him be a slave burned.

He was free and willing to do anything he wanted.

In his joy, he never noticed that one single chain broke.

He never noticed that has he disappeared, that one chain attached to his leg went with him.

He never noticed—

**_"Emiya Shirou, representative of the Judgement Arcana, and the true heir of that foolish ideal…a Hero of Justice."_ **

A voice from deep within the darkness spoke.

All the captive slaves turned and cooed as the darkness receded back under the might of that glow—

A golden glow so beautiful and so captivating that it made them forever want to stay in chains just to see it.

**_"Now, little Warden, time for you to finally play your part in this game—meet the Guardian and recognize him. And of course, undermine the unconscious will of mankind…it is due time for it to receive Judgement."_ **

The golden glow began to disappear, much to the utter sadness of all the slaves there.

They returned to darkness.

They returned to being cramp together.

They returned to suffocating amongst each other.

All they could do, was enjoy the final words of the magnificent and radiant glow—their precious treasure.

**_"I've won, nothing can deter the outcome I have wrought. This game has been set in stone. All that's left, is to see how it plays out…right, Igor?_ **

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note
> 
> Well, here's the first chapter for the year 2018.
> 
> For all of you who guessed Mordred was going to be Shirou's Persona, then congratulations! You guessed correct.
> 
> Originally when this story was being planned out and was still in its first two chapters, Shirou's Persona was going to be Muramasa. It suited him well for what I had planned of him back then of him being always compare to a brute with a reputation ruined due to the actions of others. But as I kept working on the story, I found Muramasa to be to limiting and not that fun for future stories ideas, after all, there are Servants here who may recognize some of the Persona and associate whatever grudge they have with the user.
> 
> So after planning I brought the old list of candidates and had three choices. Lancelot, which I discarded quickly because while his chivalrous and white knight image fitted Shirou, it wasn't what I was looking for in his development. Spartacus, thanks to the whole "You are a Slave." a great revolutionary guy who could work great for Shirou, but was beaten thanks to the last chapter solidifying who I had to give him.
> 
> Mordred was such an obvious choice that it was probably why I wanted to avoid him. But something the most obvious choice is the best one. Mordred fit in every criteria I needed of him for the story. And Shirou's development will grown smoothly with something as Mordred as his rebellious spirit. Also because I made a kick as art of it which I will soon be posting as the cover for this.
> 
> Now, just so we're clear on something, the Persona isn't going to act like the Servant counterpart. Mordred will clearly be a male and have different appearance like every Persona has.
> 
> Originally I didn't want to include the interlude, but I found no good place to place afterward and it just made sense that it would occurred now. And while it reveals a lot, it also gets the plot moving forward and goes well in hand with the summary.
> 
> So yeah, I think this chapter came out nicely. I hope you all enjoy it. Until next time, Adios!


	10. Revolt in the Castle: Part 1

**Beta'd by Crossovernaru**

* * *

_My lips moved, but no words came out._

_I quickly shut my mouth when a sudden feeling og dryness spiked through my throat thanks to the phenomena around me._

_I blinked as my eyes tried to adjust to my surroundings through the raging and burning air surrounding me._

_I squinted my eyes, catching the sight of a lifeless, grey and mechanical world—a wasteland of swords and massive gears spinning in the sky._

_I tried to move, but my limbs refused to obey my commands._

_"Humph, so another idiot made it here."_

_A voice like a steel blade cut through the winds and reached my ears._

_I looked in the direction from where the voice came from, and saw a single figure, contrasting with the lifeless world around him hundreds of yards away from me._

_A tall man stood straight with his back towards me, black armor on his torso, a red coat fluttering calmly despite the raging winds and tanned skin with white hair to contrast it. The man's tanned face turned slightly towards me, though his face was still obscure._

_"Hmm, this is rare. An Emiya Shirou making a contract this early? What a sad sight this is."_

_The man turned away from me, clearly indicating dismissal—yet, he extended a single hand by his sides in invitation._

_"Let's get it over with... I'm actually curious to see what would get an idiot like you to sign yourself to this hell."_

_Silence._

_An awkward and tense silence was felt through the powerful and heated winds._

_A few seconds passed like this._

_It wasn't until after few seconds had passed that the man turned fully towards me—his expression sharp as steel… and just as dangerous._

_Grey eyes glared into my own with overwhelming power._

_"You're not another fool who ended up here by making the contract…? Then how…?"_

_The man's question only served to make me even more confused._

_I did not understand a single word coming out of the man's mouth and simply staring into his eyes made me feel sick and dizzy. It was then that an intense headache reverberated through my skull as blurred images began to force themselves into my brain._

_At that moment my consciousness began to slip—the image of the wasteland, the swords and the man slowly fading into obscurity._

_As if it was just one bad dream._

_"Don't think I'm going to let you go that easily."_

_The man's voice whispered as it began to grow closer._

_"I don't know how you got here, but Emiya Shirou does not possess the power to reach this plain of existence—"_

_I opened my eyes and looked forward, through the fading world, as the red figure ran at me with his hands ready to grasp something._

_"Someone else must have sent you to this place. How and why I don't know, but you have to die. Just in case you are being used to upset the balance of the Human Order."_

_Those words—being used—it brought a bad taste to my mouth and made something in the back of my head snap._

_The red figure was just a few feet away from me as he raised his arms and opened his mouth._

_His empty hands were filled with two weapons that were etched into my mind—_

_And his words burned deep into me._

_._

_._

_._

_._

* * *

"Trace On! Mordred!"

Those words resonated deep within Shirou as the black iron mask was fully ripped from his face. Fire enveloped him, blinding him from the horrifying sight of the hell he and Ann had been trapped in. He closed his eyes as he felt the power surging through him.

Warmth hugged his body, a sudden heaviness settling on his back—yet his very being screamed at him to stand straight despite it. He brought a hand forward and clenched it, feeling his formerly weak and submissive-self being burned away.

**"Take your first step forward."**

He didn't know if the voice that had said this was of his past bound self, or if it was he himself thinking of what he had to do—but he found no reason to ignore it.

After all…

_This was what he wanted..._

_...wasn't it?_

To take that first step towards protecting what he loved.

_Illya._

He had failed to protect her once, and because of his weakness, she suffered.

But now—he would fight to prevent someone from causing tears to be shed from his sister's eyes.

_'Yet, she isn't here, I can't protect her now…the most I can do with this new resolve of mine is…'_

Shirou opened his eyes, still surrounded by white, and took that first step forward.

He raised his right foot up, brought it forward, placed it down and let his body be pulled forward and out of the light. The sight that greeted him was once more the horror-field abyss, along with the shocked expressions of Gilles and the tear stricken Ann with eyes filled with despair.

 _'…yes, that was it, that look in her eyes.'_  His determined gaze was focused on the blonde, as ever so slightly the despair in her eyes started giving way to something else... something hopeful.

_'I never want to see something like that in the eyes of someone I care about. Not after Illya… Takamaki-san, even if we aren't friends or anything like that, I can't bring myself to let you have that gaze. If not for my sake, then I'll do it for you, for everything you've suffered… and for you as well, Shiho…'_

The flames around him disappeared as he took his second step, then another, and then another—until he finally came to stop. His eyes went from Ann's towards Gilles and his gaze sharpened into steel. The Servant frowned as he looked at Shirou with an analytical gaze. The redhead just let his gaze fall down towards his new form.

His clothes had changed from the school uniform, into something else. He now had a black tight and sleeveless armored piece on his torso with white accents that outlined his muscles and a metal plate on his collar. Black pants with straps around his thighs and shins. Armored black iron shoes that protected his feet and mid shins from the blood-soaked floor. His arms shared a similar form of protection in the form of twin abyssal colored gauntlets which kept his forearms away from harm along with black gloves.

All around his attire was monochrome with the single exception of the red open tattered skirt around his waist, tied by silver metal plates. The red cloth flowed ominously as he turned his head towards Gilles, his golden-brown eyes glaring coldly at the monster.

The sounds of chains crackling alerted Shirou of the surge of power that come out of him. He looked back and saw it—his power of change, and his will of rebellion.

It was a knight, a hulking figure covered from head to toe in charred white armor. Sporting all type of chinks and dents, the knight stood proudly with its massive red great sword held by sharp and charred gauntlets. On the knight's chest was massive spear stabbing it through its armor and puncturing all the way through its back. Its helm was ruined, as the damaged and ripped iron face plate forming the imaged of a face—jagged soulless holes for eyes and ripped chunks where the mouth would be, forming a sharp frown.

The image of his power was battered, injured and on the brink of death with the spear piercing its body—it should've been disconcerting.

**But—**

"OOoo, is that it?" Gilles asked unimpressed as he manifested the human skin book into his elongated fingers and pointed at the redhead who ignored him. "A knight in sullied, and broken armor? And with a spear lodged into its chest? AAAHH how marvelous! Even when you've gained the power to fight, your spirit is already so broken! Do you see my saint? How weak his soul is? How it doesn't compare to yours?!"

Ann just looked at the distracted young man, a worried looked appearing on her face as she saw the madman raise his book towards the redhead with an innocent smile. "Shirou watch out!"

"Let's hear your screams, dear boy!"

The floor erupted into a shower of blood and gore as three of the aquatic monsters Gilles was so fond of using sprung forth—eagerly and wantonly wanting to eat the awakened young man.

**But—**

As Shirou stared at his less than impressive and stellar Persona, he understood a truth that none, but he himself could see.

"Right…" He muttered as he saw the monstrosities upon him. "Let's show them our resolve, Mordred."

In the blink of an eye, the charred and impaled knight swung its blade. A whirlwind of mayhem and power was unleashed as the armored knight released fire from every nook and cranny of its burnt armor. The air burned as a cyclone of fire was formed when the large Persona spun fiercely and cut down the monsters with its now burning blade.

The monsters dropped onto the bloodstained floor with loud squelching noises, their bodies still eerily twitching and moving despite being rendered to pieces.

"W-What!?" Gilles took a step back in surprise as the now burning Persona rounded on him, raising its blade ominously towards him and pointing it at its face. Shirou looked at him with a cold gaze and took a step forward.

"It doesn't matter how everyone looks at me. Whether they see a sniveling kid, a violent thug or just someone who is nothing but a joke…it doesn't matter. As long as I keep this resolve deep within me… I won't falter in making sure no else has to cry or be in despair for the mistreatment of others, no matter who or what opposes me."

Shirou's eyes traveled back to Mordred as the flames of his resolve receded back into the armor. He nodded to himself as he took in the sight—flesh was weak, if anyone had suffered the amount of ridicule and injuries that the knight had suffered, they would've died. However, it was that fire of rebellion and of fury that kept the armor alive, and kept that will going. So long as that fire kept burning, then no number of injuries could possibly bring it down.

"You…" Gilles frowned, his face set in stone as his fish-like eyes glared at him. "Don't think that something like that could ever beat the profane and damned creatures of God! You're not worthy to even be in the presence of my saint!"

The torn apart monsters twitched violently and began to regenerate at an accelerated rate. The three creatures suddenly multiplied into seven as they regrew from the pieces that were cut away.

Loud screeches filled the darken hell, making Ann flinch and look on with worry as the monstrosities jumped forward to attack the redhead.

Shirou just kept his gaze on Gilles. "Humph, you say that—!"

The monsters crashed where Shirou had stood, but he was already on the move. Swiftly evading the ones that stood before him, charging straight towards Gilles with Mordred readying its blade.

"Giiih!" Gilles flinched back and held his book forward. A mass of tentacles sprouted from the floor around him in a protective cocoon and three other limbs spearing forward to kill the redhead.

Shirou saw the attack easily, and with a simple hop with his right foot, changed direction in mid-charge. His body shot like a bullet past a surprised Gilles, who looked at him from within the mass of slimy and spamming limbs, as he headed straight for Ann.

Shirou extended his right hand and continued with his line. "—but I'm tired of feeling unworthy!"

At his cry, Mordred violently ripped the spear out of its chest once more and a sea of fire came out of the wound, engulfing Shirou. The mass of flames then moved towards Shirou's right hand, quickly condensing until a shape was formed—

A blade.

A short scimitar, white in color, like the haze of a cloud.

_…Bakuya…_

The redhead's mind whispered it to him—just glancing at it made him feel a rush of power, something almost similar to the light Shiho had produced upon her own awakening.

He grasped the blade, and with movements exceeding what someone his age or background should know or even be capable of, slashed the tentacles holding Ann hostage alongside with the monster's entire left side in a fluid, yet chaotic whirlwind of movement.

"—!"

The monster's screech was long and loud, but Shirou paid it no mind as he grabbed Ann around her waist with his free left arm and jumped over the screaming creature with his sword still in hand.

He looked towards the disoriented blonde, his Persona disappearing and his iron mask returning. "Hold on."

Ann blinked and let out a surprised squeal when Shirou jumped up towards the opposing wall. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked at him with renewed adrenaline coursing through her.

"What are you doing!?"

Shirou landed on the wall and bounced back, even higher once more to repeat the process. "I'm going to bounce back and forth until we reach the exit!"

"What!?" Ann held herself tighter to the redhead and looked at him with a bewildered expression. Her eyes now focusing on the iron mask obscuring his face—including his eyes. "How are you going to do that when you can't see!?"

"What are you talking about?" Shirou asked just as three tentacles burst from the wall he was just about to land on. Ann noticed it and closed her eyes.

"Shirou watch ou—!"

The girl didn't even finish her warning as Shirou easily maneuvered himself through the appendages attempts to grab him. He landed on the wall with a flourished twist and bounced out ready to continue with his journey upwards. Ann opened her eyes, looked back to the tentacles that had failed to capture them and turned towards her savior. She stared at Shirou who looked right back at her through his iron helm.

"I can see perfectly, Takamaki-san."

Ann could only stare at him with awe. Her hold tightened around him as he continued bouncing back and forth between the walls. When a bright light from above began to illuminate she caught sight of their exit—the hole that lead to the abyss was within sight and calling for them.

"We're almost out Shirou!"

"I know." Shirou answered as he propelled himself further upwards. Ann smiled as they grew closer towards their escape and—!

"No!" Ann cried out as eleven sets of tentacles peaked through the exit of the abyss, eagerly moving forward to grab them. "Shirou, there's—!"

"Just hold on!" The redhead cut her off as he reached with his right hand, extending two fingers to grasp his mask, while still holding the blade, and ripped it off. Mordred appeared behind him, with its jagged eyes lighting up with fire at the sight of its opposition.

The monstrous limbs darted for them with the intent to crush them either against the walls of the abyss or against each other. However, their attempts were halted when the large Persona moved forward, sword in both hands and its large body twisting with seemingly impossible flexibility to parry the appendages with a mighty blow.

As Metal met flesh, the tentacles charge was completely and utterly thrown into disarray. The limbs crashed and flayed desperately, destroying everything around them in the process.

Ann watched in amazement, while Shirou gritted his teeth—searching for an opportunity.

One of the tentacles crashed into the wall so violently that it ripped it to pieces.

Another tentacle collided with its fellow appendage, making it flinch harshly.

Two others got entangled and desperately tried to separate themselves. Bloody gashes began to appear as they starting ripping into each other

Another was still recoiling from the blow from earlier, but remained stationary compared to the other flaying limbs.

In that moment, Shirou saw his chance and took it. His feet crashed against the wall, and pushing against it, he propelled himself upward like a bullet. Twisting his body to avoid the other flailing tentacles, Shirou landed on the immobile limb and jumped up.

Grasping his sword, the redhead frowned and bared his teeth. "Graaa—!"

Fingers clenched around the handle of his blade, his hold over Ann secured—he slashed with all his might.

Blood and gore exploded around him, as all eleven tentacles were cut with a single successful slash. Shirou and Ann still flew upwards, avoiding any further staining by the monstrosities as they finally made it to their desired destination.

A bright light blinded them, as their bodies sailed out of the abyss and upwards towards the castle walls. Ann looked at the castle and grinned.

"We made it!"

Shirou, his black iron mask back in place, prepared to make another swing with his blade. "Not yet."

The redhead adjusted his hold over Ann so that he could hold her in a bridal carry and ran towards one of the many windows on the castle. Ann noticed his intentions and once more tightened her hold over Shirou as the young man slashed at the window..

Pieces of the shattered window flew, cluttering and breaking apart further when they hit the polished floors of the large room—and onto the surprised silver knight, who had just enough time to turn around before its faceplate was smashed against the black iron boots of Shirou's new metaverse outfit.

Using the momentum of his jump, he sailed forward, landing on his knees right in the middle of the large room. He turned just in time to see the knight he had stomped on fall on its back. With Ann still in his arms, he looked around for a safe and secure place for the girl to hide in.

The room they were in was large, the walls filled with portraits of Kamoshida—all of them depicting him in heroic poses and in a kingly matter. Shirou clicked his tongue at this, but ignored it in favor of finding a secure location for Ann—a second later he saw a staircase which led to the second floor. Beside it was a small dark corner with desks adorned by volleyballs. The redhead froze as he looked at the spot and turned towards Ann.

"Go and hide beside those stairs!" Shirou let Ann drop from his arms and gestured towards the spot. The blonde looked at it, nodded and turned towards him to say something—but he cut her off. "Just go, I'll clear a way out for us."

Ann frowned, her face morphing into a guilty expression. "I…okay... okay… just be careful!"

Shirou nodded and turned away from her. As he listened closely for her fading footsteps, he took a deep breath. He placed a hand on his mask as he focused on the now recovering sentry.

"You bastard! How dare you damage lord Kamoshida's castle!" The knight roared as it got to its feet, looking at him with a fierce red aura surrounding it. Its metal armor began to bubble up with a red substance as it shook. "I'll make you pay!"

Shirou grew tense, ready for battle as the knight exploded into a black and red substance. From the substance came forth four figures. Two small-winged females dressed in skin-tight blue suits, along with two armored knights holding onto spears and riding on horses.

Not a second was wasted as one of the horseman lunged forward at break neck speeds.

Shirou's eyes widened behind his mask—his gaze focusing on the tip of the horseman's spear. His body moved to the side, dodging the spear that almost pierced his chest by a hairs breadth, and crashed into the floor—destroying it with ease.

A path of destruction burst forward, as the polished tiles flew up into the air alongside the dust and debris.

The redhead could only watch the mayhem in terrifying awe.

'If that had hit me… I would've died…!'

That was the only coherent thought he was able to form at the moment. Before his feet even touched the ground, the second horse was already charging towards him. The knight's horse let out a roar unbecoming of its species as it lunged for him with his spear at the ready. It's companion soon followed having recovered from the powerful attack it had performed.

Shirou gritted his teeth, grabbed the sword with both hands, and clenched his hold over it tightly, focusing on the enemy as they closed the distance between them in less than a second and—

"Die intruder!" The knight roared as it speared his weapon towards his body.

Shirou's armored feet touched the floor, his knees bending and his hands by his sides as he watched the spear go in for the kill.

NOW!

Reacting quickly to his instincts, he swung his blade—!

"Grah!" The knight cried out as he almost lost its hold over the weapon. Shirou's Bakuya impacted with the wooden pole area of the spear, just behind the weapons bladed tip. His actions were rewarded with a successful parry that left the knight staggering and Shirou stumbling back, creating more space between him and his enemies.

But…

"D-Damn—!" Shirou cursed at the stinging sensation in his hands, his eyes focusing on the white blade sailing through the air after he lost his hold over it.

"Shirou—!" Ann's startled and concerned cry nearly made him grit his teeth as the consequence of loosing his one means of fighting filled him with dread. He wasn't the only one who would pay if he failed—he couldn't let Ann get back in the hands of these monsters.

"Idiot!" One of the small pixie like females jeered as the redhead tried to regain his footing, still reeling from the parry he had performed.

"Go and kill him already you guys!" The other female fairy encouraged. The first horseman that had attacked him moved in. When he was upon him, he lunged the spear forward with double the intensity.

"Your luck ends here brat! Die!"

"Shirou! NO—!"

Shirou's eyes widened, his left hand moving in to remove his mask and call for his Persona—but it wouldn't be enough. His hand wouldn't reach in time to remove the mask and call forth for the power he had just gained.

Everything slowed to a crawl as a realization came to him.

_He would die here._

_He would die here, and he wouldn't have changed anything._

_Was this really his end though?_

_Why? Why was it that he couldn't change anything?_

_Why was it that he couldn't fight for what he wanted?_

**_…because your hands are empty…_ **

_Because his hands were empty?_

_…_

_Of course…yes, his hands held nothing…so he could do nothing._

_But…as long as he could feel the weight and power of that weapon…_

_**…say it…** _

"Trace on!"

CLANG!

"What the—!?" The horseman cried in surprise as it looked at his spear spinning in the air. Its eyes looked down at the young man before him, his right hand once more holding onto his white blade.

"Mordred!" The hulking and burnt Persona came forth, lighting up its flaming sword, and crashing it into the horseman's metal plated sides and driving it down to the floor with enormous power.

"Gragh!" The horseman cried out, it's horse roaring alongside its rider as the force of the attack sent them crashing to the floor. Shirou moved in to finish the enemy off—

"Shirou! Watch out for the other one!" Ann shouted from her hiding spot as she warned the redhead of the incoming danger. Fortunately, Mordred move in to intercept and defend the redhead, but the horseman swiftly evaded the attack and swung its spear towards Shirou. The young man barely had enough time to bring up his blade to defend himself before it was blown out of his hands.

"Gurgh—!" The teen grunted his golden eyes moved to see his sword smashed to pieces, and flying through the air.

"Die!" The horseman cried as it made the horse jump up, ready to trample him.

But—

"Trace—!"

The white sword Bakuya appeared in his right hand, with quick succession he slashed vertically, going from the horse's chest up to its maw. The animal let out a startled cry before it fell to the floor from the harsh recoil. The horseman was startled by the this, but not enough to stop its effort of killing the redhead. It continued to erratically lunge its spear towards Shirou.

"—on!"

A second blade appeared.

This one black in color, covered in a hexagonal pattern, appeared in a burst of fire and electricity on his awaiting left hand—and the moment it appeared, Shirou grasped it and swung. The incoming spear was cut in half, and the redhead side stepped the broken weapon and focusing on the now shocked horseman.

"W-What—!?"

Its question was left unanswered as Mordred crushed the downed knight with its blade. Happy that one of his enemies had been felled, Shirou looked down at the black blade in his hand with curiosity.

_…Kanshou…_

"What the heck is up with this guy!?" One of the pixies cried out as she raised her hands towards the fallen horseman let green power flow around the knight, healing it to its feet.

"Can he keep making swords or something?" The other pixie muttered nervously as she watched the black iron helm return to the redhead's face. The horseman growled as it began to charge forward once more.

"It doesn't matter! He will die here and now! For Lord Kamoshida!"

Shirou spread both his legs wide, bent his knees and pulled his arms back— and hurled both swords towards the incoming horseman. The enemy was so startled by this that it attempted to swing at both swords with its spear.

Bakuya was successfully parried, but Kanshou hit its mark. "—!" A loud roar of pain was unleashed from the knight as the black sword was embedded squarely in its chest. The horseman flinched from the pain, its free hand moving to rip the sword from its body—he looked to where the redhead was, but found nothing but empty space.

A shadow loomed over it, forcing it to look up.

The last thing it saw before it was slashed into four pieces, was of Shirou with the same two weapons had had thrown being formed and grasped by his awaiting hands.

"Giiih!" One of the pixies cried, seeing her companion be slice to pieces and disappear into coiling shadows. She turned around and moved to flee. Unfortunately, she didn't get far before Bakuya was impaled right through her back. She let out a pained cry as she exploded into the red and black substance before disappearing completely.

The final pixie fell to the floor shivering and looking at Shirou. Just as the young man was ready to throw Kanshou and end her existence, she broke down.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't kill me!" Her cries made the redhead stop, but his grip over his weapon hadn't lessened. The pixie took this as a good sign as she continued. "Please don't kill me! It's totally unfair! You've already won!"

"This isn't about wining or loosing." Shirou responded dryly. The pixie pursed her lips, her shivering stopping as she gave the redhead a mean look.

"Geez, what crawled up your ass and died!?"

The redhead let out a sigh and shook his head. "I don't have time to be talking with you. I need to find a way to get us out of here."

He raised his weapon, ready to strike her down and the pixie recognizing the danger shook her head.

"Wait! Don't kill me! If you let me live, I'll tell you how to get out of here or whatever!"

This made Shirou stop and tilt his head in wonder. "Why would you tell me that? In fact, why should I believe you at all?"

"Uh?" The pixie looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Because then you would kill me? Are you like an idiot or something?"

"Oh…" Shirou lowered his weapons, resisted the urge to scratch his cheek at the confusion he felt and just stood. He looked back at Ann, and the blonde, who had been watching the entire exchange just shrugged her shoulders and gave him an uncertain nod. "I guess…but if you try anything…"

"I know, I know, you'll kill me! I'm not that slow in the uptake like you!" The pixie mock as she made a gesture to follow her. "Now follow m—!"

The wall and all the windows from where Shirou and Ann had crashed through exploded.

Both froze, looking up at the mass of tentacles bursting in and crashing on top of the surprised pixie, utterly destroying her. The redhead took a step back as a large, bubbly mass moved forward, writhing eerily as it began to peel off to reveal the madman and master of the aquatic monstrosities, Gilles de Rais. Behind him more and more of those creatures began to climb through the destroyed wall of the castle.

Gilles glared down at Shirou, pointing a sharp and long nail at him, the madman roar. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Give her back! Give my saint back to me!"

"No." Shirou simply responded as he ripped his mask off his face, and letting Mordred appear behind him.

The bug-eyed man shook with fury at the response and frowned. "She isn't yours! Give her back!"

"And she isn't yours either!" Shirou bent his knees slightly, glaring at the monster in human flesh, before giving him a cold smile. "But if you want to keep persisting, how about you try and catch her yourself?"

Shirou mockingly beckoned Gilles to come at him with both blades in hands baiting him and keeping his gaze away for Ann. It worked as the fallen knight shook with barely restrained fury.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The inhuman servant's snarling was all the monstrous and bizarre creatures needed as they charged forward, teeth bared with mouths wide opened.

"Okay…" Shirou readied himself. "Trace on! Mordred!"

.

.

.

.

* * *

**—Interlude—**

**Thick as Thieves**

"Hmm…" Mona hummed as he carefully peaked around a corner to see if there were any more sentries nearby. When he saw nothing, he turned towards Joker, Skull and the newest member of the group, Tiger. "Finally. A hallway where it isn't being littered with all of those guards around."

Skull scratched the back of his head with an annoyed look behind his skull mask. "Urgh, we barely made any progress at all man…it's like these guys totally know that we're here."

Shiho, adjusted her tiger mask and looked at the feline creature. "Is this how it normally goes?"

Mona turned towards him and shook his head. "No, Palaces may become aware of intruders because of how we are basically overstepping on grounds controlled by the Rulers, but our Personas protect us from becoming completely discovered. In order words, the enemy shouldn't know that we're here."

"Then how come we're facing so much opposition?" Joker asked, one hand looking for something in his pockets, he produced an energy drink and waggled it softly. "We're having a tough time sneaking around the guards here, and if we keep fighting, we'll have to start drinking this to get our stamina up. I was hoping to save these for after we hit the halfway mark, not earlier."

Mona crossed his small arms and looked off to the side. "I know, I know. We're not making any progress at all…but I think this has to do with what happened yesterday."

"Ann…" Tiger whispered as she clenched her hands tightly and glared forward, remembering the girl's close call at the hands of Kamoshida.

"Goddamn son of a bitch…" Skull's low growl made everyone look at him as he gritted his teeth. "We'll make him pay!"

Joker nodded and turned towards Mona who watched Tiger and Skull with sympathetic eyes. "Is Kamoshida feeling aggressive? Is that somehow affecting his Palace?"

The feline creature turned towards the appointed leader and shook his head. "No, Kamoshida isn't feeling aggressive…if there's so many guards on look out then that means that he is actually feeling paranoid. He's maybe starting to realize just how bad things could get for him if word gets out that he tried to… sully Lady Ann."

"So now he is growing a conscious!?" Tiger growled, her eyes squarely focused on the floor. "Not when he almost…when he almost…"

She jumped somewhat in surprised and turned towards Joker as he placed a hand on her shoulder. He gave her a smirk. "It doesn't matter how guilty he feels now. We're going to give that bastard proper punishment, steal his distorted desires and make sure he never tries something like this again."

Tiger looked at him for a second, her leader's words reaching deep within her and calming her down. She nodded and gave him a look of determination.

"Hell yeah!" Skull crowded in with a sharp grin. "Let's take this asshole dow—!"

"There are signs of battle occurring on the east side of the castle!"

Mona flinched and turned back towards the corner as the loud footsteps of incoming guards filled the hallway. He turned towards his group. "Hide!"

Moments later ten knights came running past them.

"What in the blazes—!?"

"Lord Kamoshida will be furious! What the hell is happening!?"

"It's the Court Wizard! He is in battle with the intruders!"

"Let's go! Someone go and warn Lord Kamoshida as quickly as possible!"

"For the King!"

All the knights ran through the halls, disappearing though another corner and being none the wiser to the thieves hidden away—right on top of them, holding for dear life on one of the chandeliers.

"Are they gone…?" Tiger asked, Joker looked down.

"Yeah… come on."

With that they let go and fell to the floor, all landing on their knees. Mona looked around in caution. Skull kicked the floor slightly as he scratched the back of his head.

"What the heck was that?"

Tiger turned towards him and frowned. "Court Wizard…? Isn't it that man with the big eyes?"

The feline thief turned towards her and nodded. "Yeah…but to say that he's fighting someone…could it be, that another intruder is in here aside from us?"

Tiger rounded on the cat as Skull recoiled back. "What!? What the hell do you mean other intruders!? Aren't we the only ones?"

"Not so loud you idiot!" Mona chastised the blonde, but he did not seem to care as he shook his head violently and glared down at the creature.

"No way, man! This shit's serious!"

"What if it was Ann?" Tiger asked as her mind began to wander. Everyone looked back at her. "She has the most motivation out everyone to take down Kamoshida… What if she somehow got the app?"

"But she doesn't have the app to get here! We checked! And she would've totally told us if she had it with her during the meeting!" Skull exclaimed ignoring Mona who looked ready to lay on him for his loud voice.

But Joker's words silenced the group.

"But you got the app too after being here Skull. So wouldn't Takamaki get it too?"

"I…" Skull groaned and shook his head. "Shit! Tiger did you get the app too?"

"Huh?" The girl looked at him in surprise, before she reached for one of the pockets in her white coat and pulled out her phone. "I…I guess? I haven't checked my phone at all since yesterday—oh! Yeah, I got the app too! It's the one with the eye with the star in it right?"

The blonde went to peer over her shoulder, he nodded brazenly. "Yeah, yeah, that's the one…but, don't you get that after getting a Persona?"

Joker twirled his dark locks and shook his head, though his dark eyes were distant as he remembered the words that had been uttered to him in his dreams by his wardens in that Velvet Room. "I had it way before even coming to the school… so no."

"Didn't Shirou also have the app way before coming into the Metaverse?"

Mona's question made everyone freeze and turned towards their feline partner.

"Oh shit…"

"We need to go! If Shirou-kun found himself back here again…!" Tiger turned towards a now stern face Joker. "Joker we have to look for him…just in case, please. Even if you can't, let me make sure tha—!"

"No."

Joker simple answer shocked everyone. The only girl in the group narrowed her eyes and took a step forward.

"Listen, if you want to keep going then go! But I'll be making sure that Shirou is okay! Whether you want it or not."

Joker nodded. "I know…but I meant no, as in you won't be going alone. We're all going."

"Oh…" Tiger took a step back and blushed in embarrassment.

"Heh!" Skull punched Tiger's shoulder lightly and gave her a teasing grin. "You were totally ready to take Joker's head off, right?"

"Hrm…"

The dark haired leader smirked at her and turned towards Mona. "You think you can find out where all those guards are going?"

"Nyhehe!" The feline creature grinned mischievously and pumped his chest. "Who you think you're talking to rookie?"

Joker smirked at his response and turned towards the rest of his companions.

"Okay, people, it's time to get this show on the road!"

"Ha! Let's go leader!"

"After you Joker."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTE
> 
> Well hello there! Newest chapter showing off Shirou's new capabilities. This chapter was originally much longer, but I decided to split it into two parts so that it can have a better flow to the story.


	11. Revolt in the Castle Part: 2

The polished tiled floor exploded under the weight of a severed monsters' tentacle.

Shirou's red cape fluttered while in mid-flight after he jumped back to create some distance between him and the rampaging mass of monsters. Another one lunged at him, its limbs twitching uncontrollably in agitation towards its evasive prey.

Shirou landed in a crouch, his gaze never leaving the fast approaching beast. When it was close enough, he ripped off his mask with his occupied hand, fingers lancing the black helm as it turned into blue fire and manifested Mordred. Thanks to the Persona's quick reaction time, the creature's charge was diverted, allowing Shirou to retaliate and quickly deliver a critical blow with both blades, slashing it into four pieces. As the monster's remains crashed onto the floor, Shirou jumped back once again as more creatures continued to close in on him.

This was the sight that Ann witnessed as Shirou diverted their attention to him and away from her hiding place. A repetition of the same tactic being implemented ever since the battle had started, repeated over and over again for the last twenty-three minutes. A parry from the large Persona, quick slashes from Shirou and a quick retreat away from her position, while he slowly began to push himself into a corner the longer the battle continued.

Ann bit her lip as she focused on Shirou, noticing how he was slowly tiring himself out, just like the events that had occurred with Shiho. Every time he summoned his Persona to attack, the more haggard and exhausted he became. His exposed biceps were sporting bruises, his muscles tensing and burning from using his full strength to cut down the monsters threatening to overwhelm him.

The redhead's Persona went in to parry, but applied a little bit too much force and cut the monster in half. The monster's dying screeches filled the room. Shirou silently cursed and jumped back, missing his chance to deliver the final blow to Gille's creature. Renewing his focus, he resumed his objective of moving the battle further away from Ann.

Ann's eyes focused on the monster cut down by Shirou's Persona. She watched as its wounds quickly healed, and then began multiplying itself from the two halves, before rejoining the battle.

Mordred, for whatever reason, lacked the power to put down the monsters down for good. Its slashes were powerful and could easily destroy the creatures, but it wasn't a permanent solution. The only thing that had the power to put them out of commission were the blades in Shirou's hands. A single slash was enough to leave them writhing on the floor fruitlessly.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

Shirou could not keep this up forever, and it was only a matter of time before he tired himself out completely. As things now stood, these monsters were spawning faster than he could put them down. She looked to their origin, at the monster in human skin, Gilles de Rais. The evil caster was surrounded by more and more of those tentacled monstrosities, with no apparent sign of stopping.

Ann placed her head on her knees, arms folded atop of her blonde hair and closed her eyes in frustration and despair. Tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Damn it… damn it… How could I have been so stupid!? Shirou's going to die… and it's all my fault…!" Her hands clenched as her heart tightened. "I'm so useless… I can't do anything... I couldn't be there for Shiho and I almost let myself get raped by that bastard. Now I can't do anything to help Shirou…! Why, damn it… why—!?"

**_"Why do you keep blaming yourself?"_ **

She gasped, flinching slightly as she stared at her hands in surprise. Ann trembled as she wondered where the feminine voice had come from—and why it made her heart burn with so much anger that she wanted to lash out at the mere question.

Before she could think of anything else, Ann felt herself being pulled back.

"GYAAA!"

Her surprised cry stopped the fight between Shirou and Gilles, as she was picked up by her neck, courtesy of the metallic gauntlet of one of the castle's knight. She grimaced at the sight of the expressionless helm looking back at her, before being carried out from her hiding spot. Two other sentries blocked the path before they stepped aside and allowed the one carrying her to walk forward.

She struggled fruitlessly, her hands grasping and hitting the knight's armor in vain. She was brought forward and her eyes landed on the one man she despised the most.

 **"Well, well, it seems that you couldn't get enough of me. Isn't that right, you dirty little slut?"** Kamoshida's shadow taunted as he grinned mockingly at Ann. Gilles looked back at the sound of his king's voice and noticed Ann, where he cried out with pure joy.

"Takamaki-san!" Shirou's concerned cry made her wince and look towards him. Shirou leveled a glare at all the enemies that had appeared. He charged forward, weapons in hand and Persona trailing behind him ready to attack.

One of the creatures screeched with delight, jumping up to intercept him and wrap its tentacles around him. Fortunately, the redhead sidestepped in time, with Mordred delivering a powerful blow that sent it flying off to the side, through the broken wall that Gilles had come through. More monsters attempted to stop him, but Shirou kept on dodging and getting closer towards rescuing the blonde. Shadow Kamoshida noticed this, clicking his tongue as he gave an unimpressed look towards Gilles who was far too focused on Ann to care.

"Seriously? Why the hell did I make you the Court Wizard when you can't take care of a lowly peasant like that? Captain, kill the trash already!"

At his command, a puddle of black and red substance began bubbling through the floor before exploding, revealing a knight in gold armor with a red feather sticking out of its helmet. The Captain's red eyes flashed with power and swung its golden blade at the incoming redhead.

Shirou's eyes widened at his latest foes sudden appearance, and forced himself to come to a stop. He knew full well that dodging in any direction aside from the one he just came from, would lead to his undoing. With little options, Shirou swung both of his blades to parry the incoming sword.

Clang!

Shirou's watched with shock as Bakuya and Kanshou were sent flying through the air, and his grip over their hilts broken under the weight of the blow.

"Humph!" The golden captain scoffed, coldly preparing for a second blow. "How dare a pathetic lowlife like you get in Lord Kamoshida's way! Die!"

"Damn—!" Shirou barely had time to curse as the golden knight swung its sword at him once again. In one fluid and quick movement, Mordred intercepted the blow, locking both knights in a clash of sparks between their blades.

The captain growled and pushed forward, almost managing to bring the hulking Persona down to one of its knees. Shirou's gaped at what was happening to his Persona. It was then that he finally became aware of just how exhausted he truly was. As the adrenaline began to fade from is system, it slowly gave way to feelings of dread.

"This is the limit of your strength as a knight!? Out of my sight you faker!"

The captain roared as it broke the clash of blades and delivered a powerful haymaker to the Persona's scarred helm, sending it flying back.

Shirou's eyes widened at the sight. "Gua—!" His grunt barely escaped his lips as his Persona crashed into him and sent him flying as well. Mordred vanished into wisps of blue fire and the mask was back on his face, leaving the young man's body flying through the air over the aquatic creatures attempting to grab him as he passed over them.

He collided with a wall, the force knocking the air out of his lungs. He slid down and fell onto his knees, using his arms to keep himself from falling face first onto the floor. He panted with exhaustion, desperately taking in air as he felt power his waning until—

"What the-!?" Shirou's form was engulfed by fire and his rebellious attire transformed back into his school uniform, undamaged and untainted by the horrors of the abyss that he and Ann had been captive to.

Ann's eyes widened at the sight. "S-Shirou…!"

 **"Gihihihihi!"** the sound of Kamoshida's mocking laughter filled the room as he pointed a finger at Shirou. **"Trash will always be trash! You really thought you could mess with me!? The king!?"**

Gilles approached the once more captive Ann and cooed, much to her discomfort.

"OOOOHHHH! My saint, you have returned to me…" Just as he was about to reach for her, the knight pulled her away from the bug eyed monsters' hands, an act which startled Gilles. The mad man turned toward Kamoshida in surprise, to which the king returned with a sneer.

 **"Ah, ah!"** Kamoshida waggled his finger left and right as he looked at the mad man. **"You ain't playing with your toy just yet. We've got other things to do first."**

Gilles looked aghast at that. "But… my lord, she's right here! She's within my grasp to break and to sully! Why would you deny me this? The pleasure of spitting upon one of God's greatest saints and leading her to a path of depravity and ruin?"

Ann bared her teeth, her eyes wide with panic at the heartfelt speech from this crazy lunatic. Desperation settled in as she tried to struggle against her captor. "Let me go damn you!"

 **"Hmm…well, when you put it like that…"** The perverted king grinned and looked at Ann. **"How can I possibly say no to such an honest expression, right?"**

A cold sweat went down Ann's pale face as she stared at Kamoshida's condescending glare. Behind him, Gilles appeared ecstatic at receiving his king's consent at the chance to have his way with Ann. He almost looked like a deranged child being told that they would get a present.

"You…" Ann ground out, her body shaking in dread. The king gestured for the knight to let her go, which he promptly obeyed and dropped her. Ann cried out as her body hit the floor, looking up with a grimace as Kamoshida looked down at her.

Kamoshida sighed and shook his head in disappointment. **"Seriously, look at you now little 'saint'. You know how much potential I saw in you? So much that it made you seem like you were actually worth a damn in that stupid school… but turns out that you're just another slut beneath my feet. You could've been MY slut beneath my feet. Worshiping and pleasuring me, but instead you end up like this. A useless slut with nothing to show except for her smoking, hot body—but really, that shit doesn't matter. I could find a hundred other women like you on the streets! So, in the end you are just a useless hole!"**

Ann flinched at the words of her being useless brought forth all her previous thoughts to light. Her guilt over her weakness to do anything fueled her shame and guilt. "S-Shiho… I'm…"

The king sneered at her and turned towards Shirou, who was just getting to his feet. His stance remained defiant even though his powers ran out just moments prior.

**"And you! You stupid fuck! How dare you get in the way of my well-conceived plan of getting this stupid bimbo! Do you have any idea how long it took me to keep this bimbo and the other slut separated? They were inseparable and it took so much effort to finally keep them apart when I started filling that other girl with the idea that she's only good at volleyball! Then you come along and ruin all of my hard work! You took two of my favorite toys away from me!"**

Shirou's eyes narrowed at the admission and he growled. "They are not your toys! Stop treating people as if they are just tools for you to use and discard at your leisure!"

 **"Who the fuck gives a shit!?"** Kamoshida asked as he tilted his head to the side with an ugly sneer. **"They are mine to use as I please! I would've gotten the blonde bimbo if you hadn't gotten in the way that day! Not to mention that I would've gotten my back up fuck toy if you hadn't started befriending her and undoing all the work I put into breaking her!"**

Something in those words resonated within Ann and she looked at the king with an unreadable expression. "Back up… fuck toy…?"

Kamoshida grinned down at her condescendingly. **"Of course, you actually thought I was gonna be satisfied with just you? I mean you would totally be my alpha bitch when I got started building my harem, but you wouldn't be the only one for me. Hell no! I was planning on going after Suzui too and punish her thoroughly for even thinking she could be better than me. Hell, would you like to see her?"**

Ann blinked in bewilderment at him from the statement, as he snapped his fingers with a cruel grin on his face.

"Ooh~! Kamoshida-sensei~!"

Ann froze, as her heart came to stop. Her entire body felt as if it was just drenched with a cold bucket of ice as her skin prickled painfully. That voice—

_'That voice… it couldn't be…'_

"You…!" Ann's voice was filled with anger. The same anger that burned just as hot as the feeling that was swelling in her chest. Ann turned towards the direction of the voice, towards the door of the destroyed room and saw her—

Shiho Suzui, clad in a white frilly bikini that barely covered anything, walking towards her with ditzy steps and a distracted look on her face. The distorted version of Shiho stumbled onto Kamoshida who grabbed her and fondled her body with perverse glee.

"Kamoshida-sensei~! What'cha going to teach me today~? Are you going to teach me what we did the other day~? I kinda forgot~!"

SMACK!

Shirou and Ann flinched at the harsh slap Kamoshida gave the distorted Shiho. The man grinned savagely as the girl cradle her reddened cheek with a blush.

**"Stupid bitch! How dare you forget everything I have so graciously taught you."**

"I'm sorry Kamoshida-sensei~!" Shiho's apology came in an innocent and shrilly voice, something that made Ann wince as she closed her eyes and looked down.

"Stop it…"

Kamoshida turned towards the blonde and grinned. He grabbed the bikini-clad Shiho's hair and pulled her head towards Ann roughly. **"How about you make it up to me dumb bitch, by teaching this stupid bimbo everything I've taught you… If you can remember anything you stupid whore!"**

"Okay~!" The distorted Shiho answered chirpily, not showing an ounce of discomfort from the rough treatment—in fact she showed happiness and pleasure from Kamoshida's abuse. The dark haired girl was released, and she went towards Ann, stopping just a feet away with a smile on her face.

"It's like totally your fault that I'm here ya know~!"

Ann's heart screeched to a halt at those words. She looked up at the face of her friend, while her body began to shake uncontrollably. In that moment, her mind was incapable of distinguishing between the real Shiho and the fake.

The distortions words stabbed her like knives, causing her enormous pain.

"…s-stop…"

"Useless dummy~! I mean look at you~! All you ever do is mope around and be a bother to everyone~! Like you should totally do something with your life and stuff~! It's like, because you are like that, that I had to go through so much shit~!

"…stop…"

"I mean, being with you made me useless at everything~!"

"…stop…"

"But being with Kamoshida-sensei~! Makes me not be useless~! I can do stuff and I am actually worth something~!"

"…stop…!" Ann's eyes burned as tears began to cascade from the Shadow Shiho's onslaught.

"You should've totally seen him when we were alone~! He always told me how worthless I was~! It kinda made me realize just how bad you were for me~! Hehe~! It's all your fault I was always sad~!"

"…please… stop…!" The blonde girl desperately covered her ears with her hands, but this did not stop the words from causing her indescribable pain.

Shiho winked at her and gave her two peace signs. "I didn't want to be with a useless slut like you~! So, I kinda traded you for Kamoshida-sensei's big hard dong~! Hehehe~! And guess what~!? I'm not useless anymore~! So I guess you were good for something, huh~! Ann-chan~!"

_It was all her fault._

_Everything had been her fault._

_It was her fault that Shiho had suffered…because she couldn't go through with Kamoshida's whims…_

_It was her fault that Shiho had to face all of Kamoshida's abuse… because she couldn't be there for her…_

_It was her fault that Shiho had to see her almost get raped… because she wasn't strong enough …_

_She was guilty…_

_Guilty of being incapable of stopping bad things from happening to the one friend she truly cared about…_

_Guilty of her pain—!_

"STOP IT!"

Ann flinched and looked up, the bikini clad Shiho was staring dumbly to the side and she followed her gaze. She caught sight of Gilles focusing entirely on her. Normally, the macabre delight in his big and round eyes from seeing her suffer would make her skin crawl, but after the outburst, he was the furthest thing from her mind.

She saw Kamoshida frowning, unimpressed and sneering at the words of defiance being screamed through the air.

Her bright blue eyes caught sight of him—of Shirou standing tall, his eyes fired up and snarling with rage at the show that he had just been forced to watch.

 **"Oh? And why should I?"** Kamoshida mocked as he sneered at the redhead, only for Shirou to increase the intensity of his glare.

"Stop treating people as if they are toys for you to use and discard so easily! They aren't yours to hurt!"

Ann could only stare at Shirou with wide eyes.

Kamoshida grew angry at the continued defiance. **"Not mine to hurt!? You insolent brat! I'm the fucking king! I can do whatever the hell I—!"**

"Shut up!" Shirou's fierce words cut the deranged king off, leaving him stunned. The redhead narrowed his eyes and a look like cold steel shined through his golden-brown eyes. "I am tired of hearing you talk so much… it's grating and annoying having a bully like you talk big and act as if he was a king. If you have an inferiority complex or are just that sad about being yesterday's news about how great of an athlete you used to be, talk to somebody who cares… that is if anyone can actually bother to care."

Shirou had delivered his words stoic and cold, but even he could not help that tiny smile from forming on his lips, which Ann noticed, made Shadow Kamoshida twitch.

As the blonde looked at the redhead, she understood what he was trying to do. He was still trying to save her. He was risking his life by diverting their attention away from her. Even though he was now powerless and unable to defend himself.

As these thoughts crossed her mind, something inside of her snapped. In that instance, her feelings of guilt began to burn into something fierce.

With the king, the redhead's words had another effect.

They created a very angry and snarling Kamoshida.

The man was biting on his lower lip so hard, that his teeth came close to ripping the flesh out. His eyes glowed with pure rage, his whole body sweating from embarrassment, while he glared at Shirou.

His entire body was shaking making made his cape flutter from side to side until—

**"RRRRRAAAAAHHHH! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! FUCKING KILL HIM! I WANT HIS FUCKING HEAD AT MY FEET! NOOOOOOOW!"**

Kamoshida's roar of fury caused the ground to explode in the red and black substance, sending seven shadows flying forth with ominous red auras surrounding them. The knights began to walk forward, following the lead of the golden knight captain that had pushed Shirou back earlier.

Shirou readied himself, a look of determination on his face— even though beads of sweat began to roll down his face at the impossible odds stacked against him.

"Stop…"

Kamoshida's angry scowl turned towards Ann, seeing the girl bow her head and mutter made him grin, her words slightly alleviating his anger. Gilles who was just paying attention to the blonde for the entirety of situation just cooed, his claw-like hands reaching out affectionately.

"Isn't it beautiful? Aaa, the sight of the saint being broken down makes for such a beautiful image, doesn't it my liege?"

 **"Humph, of course it does."** Kamoshida grinned. **"After I am done with that piece of shit over there, how about I help you break the girl even further?"**

"Of course! You truly are the kindest of all kings, Kamoshida-kun!" Gilles gave him a childish smile.

"Stop…" Ann muttered once more, this made the bikini clad Shiho saunter towards her, kneel down and start pulling on her hair and poke her face. The distorted girl smiled dumbly as she spoke.

"You should totally join up with me~! Then you won't be so useless~!"

"Stop…"

"I mean you, like, totally wouldn't abandon your best friend right~? It'll be your fault if I start crying~!"

"Stop."

"Like, saying no to Kamoshida-sensei~! Is like totally the worst thing you can do~! It's your fault he had to hurt me ya know~!"

"I said…"

"It's all your fault! Every time he hit me was because of you~! Every time he touched me was because you just couldn't be true to yourself~!"

"…"

"And you're the most useless to me~! Ann-chan~! Like totally admit it~! It's all your fault~!"

Ann raised her head and with an unreadable expression she stared at the distorted and twisted image of her best friend. For the first time, her mind was clear enough to see her for what she really was. She understood what that cruel parody of Shiho truly meant. The mocking and sadistic eyes of Kamoshida and Gilles staring at her with anticipation.

_**"Are you going to let this keep going? Are you that incapable, that useless that you can't even protect the image of your best friend? Or are all these lies about your guilt more important than that?"** _

"No…" Ann growled out, her eyes blazing as the voice inside her questioned her resolve.

"Huh~!" The distorted Shiho puffed her cheeks and began to pull on Ann's pigtails roughly. "Admit it~! Admit it~! That it's all your fault~! Just admit it and—!"

"I... told you... TO STOP IT ALREADY!" Ann roared with blazing fury as she grabbed the distorted girl's forearm and pulled her free hand back. Clenching the hand into a fist, she unleashed it with all her might, with the intent to completely destroy the false image of her friend.

"Guuagh!" The distorted girl was flung back and hit the tiled floor with a harsh thud.

Everything stopped.

Kamoshida's eyes widened at the sudden act of violence.

Gilles looked excited at the raw anger on Ann's face.

The knights approaching Shirou stopped mid-step and turned towards the blonde.

Shirou also looked at her in shock, noticing a familiar fire burning in Ann's eyes… almost as though something had awakened within her.

Ann stood up, her legs wobbly but her eyes fierce with renewed determination as she turned towards Kamoshida.

"I've had it with you…!" She grounded out as she took a step forward, fist clenched. "I've had it with dealing with you in that damn school! I'm done taking peoples shit! Especially yours! And above all else… I'm sick and tired of being scared of you! So leave me and Shiho alone **you fucking piece of shit!** "

Something deep within Ann snapped and a sharp pain stabbed her mind, like a blazing tempest begging to be released. She grabbed her head, her body squirming from the pain.

_**"My, my… it's taken far too long."** _

Kamoshida's eyes widened with recognition at what was about to occur and quickly retreated in fright, stumbling into Gilles. **"Kill that one! Kill her!"**

_**"Standing by and doing nothing is no longer a choice which you can do anymore. The time for you to take control is now."** _

A single knight obeyed the order and ran towards Ann with the intent to strike her down. Shirou's eyes widened, as the knight charged at her. His eyes caught sight of the white sword that had been knocked out of his grasp earlier by the golden captain, stabbed into the ground near one of the now stationary creatures.

He bared his teeth as he took off running towards it.

**_"I am thou, thou art I… We can finally forge a contract. Yes, just like that, free yourself and unleash it all."_ **

Unbeknownst to her, the knight was upon her with its sword raised. Kamoshida grinned and Gilles, realizing what was about to happen let out a gasp of terror. Every other knight stood by, silently watching the execution with disinterest.

At the same time, Shirou threw himself towards the blade. However, one of Gilles monsters near the weapon noticed his approach and lashed out with its tentacle. Shirou notices this and bared his teeth as blue fire engulfed him.

As he changed into his rebellious attire, he swiftly avoided the tentacle. He jumped up into the air, his red open shirt fluttering as he grabbed the blade, rolled on the floor away from the monster, and stopped on his knees. His black iron mask glaring in the direction of the knight as it began to swing down.

_**"The time to break the bondage holding you back has come. Let your hands be the one to break them… let them be the ones to dominate all those who oppose you. There is no shame in playing the villain…"** _

Ann continued to squirm unaware of the knight before her.

"Die!" The knight swung its sword down, ready to split her in two. Kamoshida smiled with glee, but—

CLANG!

The sentry's sword was knocked out of its hands as a white sword came spinning from the side into its hand. The knight flinched and looked back at Shirou, who had his arm forward, indicating that he had thrown the blade.

Kamoshida's vision turned red as he glared at the young man. **"You—!"**

Shirou's rebellious attire disappeared just in time for one of Gilles creatures to grab him by the ankles. He tried to fight it off as his eyes went to Ann, who was now burning up in a shroud of blue fire.

"Let's go…" Ann's body stopped moving in pain as she glared at Kamoshida, who turned towards her with a fearful expression. A red feline mask appeared on her face. **"Carmen!"**

_**"Ah, do you understand? Then if that's the case I'll gladly lend you my strength."** _

As the voice said this, Ann ripped the mask off her face and a torrent of fire exploded from her, making everyone flinch and evaporating the knight that tried to kill her.

Shirou grinned slightly as he fought against the hold over him. He looked up and saw the monster ready to eat him. Its mouth drooling and wide open with teeth ready to tear him apart.

"Damn it… let go!"

He tried to fight it, but his efforts were in vain.

"Sforza!"

Suddenly, a white light flew towards the monster holding him as several white orbs crashed into it. The creature screeched as its body was torn apart by bursts of light, released its hold over him.

"Shirou!" Shiho's voice filled his ears and he turned towards her. The girl ran towards him as Akira, Ryuji and Morgana all landed in front of him, protecting him form harm. "Are you okay? Shirou what are you doing here!?"

"I…" Shirou started, but had to look away from her chocolate colored eyes, unable to meet them due to the concerned look in her gaze. His gold-brown eyes met with Morgana's form as he crossed his arms and summoned his Persona, which proceeded to heal him. The redhead let out a relieved sigh as he felt his body mending itself back together.

"What the hell is going on!?" Ryuji screamed as everyone turned towards the torrent of blue flames.

"Is that... Takamaki?" Akira questioned as he turned towards Shirou. The redhead blinked as he stared at the owl-shaped mask on the dark haired teen, his gaze trailing off to the torrent of fire.

"Yeah." Shirou responded as he got to his feet with Shiho's help. She gasped and turned sharply towards him then back to the torrent of blue flames.

"Ann…!? What's going on!?"

Inside the giant blue inferno, a figure stood up.

The distorted version of Shiho as viewed by Kamoshida got back onto her wobbly legs. She looked up, her face sporting a red and swelling bruise.

"Ow! You big meanie, that like, hur—!"

She never got to finish, as a fiery red whip burst out from within the depths of the flames. It went for the distorted girl, wrapped itself around her and—!

"AAAAAAAAGH!"

The distorted Shiho howled in pure agony as she was burnt to ashes in a matter of seconds.

Everyone saw this and looked at the scene in shock. Ryuji pulled on his collar as he gave the real Shiho a look.

"Holy shit…What the hell did Kamoshida do?" He directed the question towards Shirou who stared at the scene with the same shocked expression.

"I…!" He stopped talking as the torrent of rebellion disappeared, revealing the new Ann.

The blonde pulled her whip back towards herself, wrapping it around her right arm. She turned her body towards Kamoshida, now dressed in an alluring red latex catsuit. It was both attractive and sexy as the king began to ogle her. However, it was also intimidating as the fury in her eyes made Kamoshida take a step back, sweating nervously under her gaze.

The sounds of crackling chains made Ann appear even more threatening. Standing behind her, her Persona glared down at the man who caused Ann so much pain.

The Persona, Carmen, had high heels which were stepping on the visage of a man with a heart shape cage for a head, grinding her heels into him. Around the man's neck was thorny vines that went all around the Persona's rose colored and decorated dressed which showed off her bosom brazenly. The thorny vine was held by her left hand, as she dismissively dragged a second man that had the vines wrapped around his neck and floating around uselessly. Carmen's feline yellow eyes glared menacingly behind her black panther mask as she released a plume of smoke from the cigar on her lips.

It was the very image of an attractive, yet dangerous image. A true femme fatal which spells doom to any man that crosses her.

And it just so happens that her sights were now set on the frightened Kamoshida.

Ann took a step forward, pointing straight at him, "You think that women are just some sexual outlet that you can use and throw away whenever you want…but I'm going to show you… just how bad it is to earn a woman's scorn you son of a bitch! I'm going to make you pay for even thinking that you were going to **get away for trying to rape me!"**

With every word out of her mouth, the temperature in the room began to rise as a heatwave that was nearly suffocating flared up in intensity.

Kamoshida tugged at his cape in a vain attempt to cool himself. Despite his current predicament, he maintained a glare at the now furious Ann. He tried to speak, but the heat made his insults and words fail him as he stepped further back, leaving Gilles alone to look at Ann with a joyous expression.

"Oooo! What a marvelous sight! These flames! The flames that burned you! The flames that killed you on that day! My saint how does—!"

Ann rounded on the mad man, her mouth twisting into an angry sneer. "Shut up!"

Carmen bit into her cigar as a ball of fire formed in her free hand. After winding her arm back, the Persona threw it forward, unleashing it upon the mad wizard with all her might.

Gilles bulging eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Realizing the danger behind the attack, he brought his horrific book forward. The human skin covered book glowed a sickly red and immediately the mad man was covered from head to toe in large mass of monsters swarming from the book to protect him in a cocoon of writhing tentacles.

The moment the attack struck, it dug into the tentacles until the ball of fire expanded, unleashing a sea of fire was unleashed burning with even more intensity.

 **"Gyaaaaah!"** Kamoshida squealed, falling to the ground and curling up into a ball barely avoiding the flames. Thanks to the fact that he was standing behind Gilles, he was protected from being burned alive—though that didn't stop his cape from catching fire, forcing the king to remove it to avoid being burnt along with it.

Once the sea of fire receded, almost half of the room was scorched black from the intensity of Carmen's flames. The already damaged floors were now melted beyond recognition, and the destroyed wall that lead to the outside of the castle was burnt black, along with the melted remains of glass from the windows.

Although, none of that compared to the tentacle cocoon, which was charred black and no longer moving.

Kamoshida now only wearing is pink speedo's, shoes and crown, was crawling as fast as he could away from the smoking tentacles and Ann. He was whimpering and his body was pouring out an entire rivers worth of sweat, both from the heat, as well as from fear.

The charred cocoon of burning flesh collapsed, as the tentacles disintegrated into ash, leaving Gilles to stumble back disoriented from the blow he had just received. The bug-eyed man looked up, his sanguine color clothing charred and the skin on his arms sizzling from the heat. For once, the look on his eyes wasn't that of childlike wonder or sadistic glee, but one of weariness as he looked at Ann with a cautious gaze.

The blonde took a step forward and pointed at the downed Servant.

"I've had enough of your stupid and creepy act! I'm not a saint! I'm not your holy woman! I'm not yours to break! You want to keep coming at me, you crazy, obsessive piece of shit!? Then come on!" Ann beckoned at him with a small cruel smirk as her Persona created another fireball. "Carmen and I will gladly chase you off until you're burnt to a crisp!"

"Whoa… that's just…!" Akira gasped as he watched the scene with awe.

"Lady Ann's Persona is this powerful!?" Morgana questioned loudly as he focused his big blue eyes on the fiery display. "Her Persona's power is off the charts! It's being amplified way beyond normal levels! With all the anger she's releasing, she could end up burning the entire place down!"

Ryuji turned towards Shiho.

"Has she ever gotten this pissed!?"

Shiho shook her head as she stared at Ann with awe. "Never… but… were you really holding on to this much anger inside of you…? Ann, how could I have not noticed…?" the tiger masked girl whispered sadly. Her mouth frowning as she watched the scene. She jumped a little when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned towards Shirou who gave her a concerned look.

"Hey don't start blaming yourself now, okay?"

The girl gave him a small smile and nodded. "You're right! This is all Kamoshida's fault."

"Right!" Ryuji crowed in as he punched the palm of his hand with a grin. "Let's go and help Takamaki out!"

"Guys!" Everyone turned towards Akira as he took a step back. "We've got a problem."

The six remaining knights that were watching the events unfold finally acted. Their bodies exploded into shadowy red substance, spinning around maniacally until a powerful Shadow burst out.

"What the hell is that!?" Ryuji ground out as he looked the new opponent with an incredulous, but also underwhelming look.

It was a giant, bearded demon. It's long horns, menacing and pointy, sprouting from its head as its giant eyes looked fiercely at Ann who turned her attention towards the new adversary. The girl, much like Ryuji, raised an eyebrow at the demon, because—

... It was sitting on top of a toilet.

"I guess this speaks a lot about what happens when Kamoshida gets scared or comes by anyone who is willing to stand up to him." Akira said with grin as he looked mockingly at the demon and then back at Kamoshida who took noticed of them and glared hatefully in their direction. He fixed up his red gloves, ready to take a step forward.

Morgana walked forward and held out an arm to stop him. "Don't underestimate him Joker, extreme emotions like this are incredibly dangerous here. That Shadow must be incredibly powerful because of how fearful the Palace Ruler is feeling. So be careful."

Akira looked down at him, his arrogant expression weaving away for a calm and serious one. He nodded and turned towards the rest of the teenagers around him.

"Skull, Tiger, come on, let's give Takamaki-san a hand." He turned towards Shirou. "Can you stay here and be careful? I promise we'll be back for you as soon as possible."

Shirou just smiled in response. "Ha, don't worry about me. I think I have enough strength left in me to help out."

"Huh?" Morgana turned towards him with squinted eyes. "Hey, a Shadow can't be harmed by normal people like you. Only Persona users can harm and destroy them. You'll just be a liabi—!"

Morgan's words were cut short as Shirou's form was set ablaze and replaced by his rebellious attire.

"You too…?" Akira questioned.

"Shirou…?" Shiho took a step back as she watched his form.

"Whoa!" Ryuji grinned with ferocity and turned towards the demon on the toilet. "I don't really know how the hell you got that form, but if you can fight then this is gonna be a piece of cake."

Morgana looked at him with wide shocked eyes. "Holy… did… did I seriously stumble upon five Persona users in less than a week…?"

Akira gave him an appraising look and nodded. "You have enough energy to keep fighting? I know from experience, how tiresome the first time can be."

Shirou only responded by taking off his mask, turning it into blue fire in his hand. He let his other hand take some of that blue fire and calmly he held his ignited hands to his sides.

"Mordred."

The large charred knight appeared, bearing down on Shirou and with a swift movement it ripped the spear out of its chest. The blue fire in his hands turned red and the redhead swatted the fire away to reveal his Yin and Yang blades, Kanshou and Bakuya.

The mask returned to his face as he looked up at Akira, he nodded. "I have enough."

The leader of the group nodded as he turned away and began to walk towards the demon who was focusing on Ann. The redhead took a step forward, but was stopped by Shiho when she grabbed his arm with her head low.

"Shirou…" He looked at her with concern, pushing his mask up so that she could see his eyes. He waited for her response as she turned and looked up at him with a smile. "Let's go and help Ann together, so that when we get out of here. I still need to keep that promise I made of introducing the two of you. Okay?"

Shirou just smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

The demon advanced towards Ann, its face set into an ugly glare as it snared at the girl defiantly standing before him.

"You wretched girl! How dare you assault king Kamoshida like that! You will pay!"

"Humph, I say it's about time someone stood up to that lame loser." Ann said as she flipped her hair and got into a battle pose. "Let's burn them up, Carmen!"

With those words released, the femme fatal Persona dug her heel into the figure beneath her feet and raised both hands, fire circulating around them—before she threw them down ready to burn her enemy to cinders.


	12. Furious Revolt in the Castle: Part Final

The fire danced, its swaying movements giving off an alluring feeling. The heat it produced felt both seductive and dangerous.

Ever encompassing.

Always hungry.

Never forgiving.

That's what Ann saw as her fire was unleashed towards the monster mockingly looking down at them from its toilet. Her blue eyes never wavered as the demon flinched, it's body revolting as the flames reached it and swallowed him whole.

An inhuman screech tore through the air.

Ever encompassing.

Always hungry.

Never forgiving.

This was her fire… this was her.

Her posture was stiff as she saw the demon fall down to the floor, covered in burns and screeching in pain. For the first time in her life… she felt empowered.

She felt all encompassing.

She felt hungry.

She felt unforgiving.

Nothing could stop her.

Nothing could stop the fire.

Nothing could stop her guilt…

Her fire wilted. They became sated—they became weak.

The demon noticed this and roared, the burning room suddenly growing cooler.

Ice began to overpower her fire. Her eyes remained focused on the enemy, her will trying to get the flames to heat up…

But it never happened. Her flames became weak as the demon rushed towards her.

The cool air felt invasive on her skin, like a hand groping her and making her weak.

She faltered.

The ice was nearly upon her as her body recoiled to the floor, her firm gaze moving away from the demon and towards—

Towards Kamoshida… the monster who had nearly raped her.

Her fire became ever encompassing.

Her fire became hungry.

Her fire became unforgiving.

And the guilt became like a sun.

The ice melted and the demon burned.

She turned away from the defeated enemy and towards the monster who had plagued her night with nightmares of a scenario of what if Shirou and Shiho hadn't arrived in time.

She snarled and the flames grew hotter.

The king could only squeak and backpaddle on all fours.

She took a step forward, but she was met with opposition before she could exact her revenge.

A mass of writhing and twitching tentacles jumped towards her, eagerly wanting to enrapture her within their disgusting grasp.

Her blue eyes focused on the limbs and a growl escaped her as she looked passed the dark tentacles and towards their master: the bug-eyed monster, Gilles.

Her fire burned even hotter as the mass of tentacles approached her, only to have their limbs utterly and completely bathed in her flames.

They should've been rendered to ash.

They should've ceased to exist through her fury.

But they persisted—like one bad nightmare.

The tentacles, now sizzling and bubbling lumps of flesh from the incredible heat continued to crawl towards her.

She only took a step back, her posture rigid as she readied herself to jump away from the danger and—

"Sforza!"

A voice that made her heart feel at ease and quell her fury called out to her. A bright light passed over her head as multiple white orbs collided with the tentacles, pushing them back.

The limbs recoiled from the blow, releasing horribly loud screeches that tore through the burning air past the roar of Ann's fire.

"All out attack!"

She looked back at the sound of the voice of Akira just in time to see five shadows dart above her. Once more she turned towards her front and saw the shadows come in and out, attacking the tentacles relentlessly.

Bouncing from all the surfaces with no restraint the tentacles were torn to pieces, reduced to nothing but a bloody mess that quickly burn to ashes from her flames.

She narrowed her eyes at the spectacle, until a single person dropped right in front of her—

"Ann!" Shiho's concerned voice and face made her heart melt, putting her more at ease.

"Shiho…"

Her words went unheard as she was pulled into a quick hug by her friend. She gasped at this, but she leaned in forward and took in her presence.

The fire danced.

The fire was alluring with its swaying. It's heat seductive and dangerous.

Ever encompassing.

Always hungry.

Never forgiving.

But…

It was safe.

Her fire cooled, but did not waver.

For once, her blazing fury dimmed as she let herself be consoled and wrapped in the arms of the one person she loved very deeply.

As long as Shiho was with her, safety and happiness would always be around the corner.

And she would keep that safety safe no matter what.

Nothing would stop her from doing just that.

Nothing.

.

.

.

.

* * *

"Alright! Look at that, you effin pervert! How do you like that!?"

Shirou landed beside the enthusiastic blonde as he continued to throw insult after insult towards the snarling Kamoshida. The dark trench coat wearing leader to his side grinned mockingly in amusement. The redhead looked around and noticed the flames dying out slowly. He turned his head back and saw both girls hugging among the chaos. He looked away from the tender moment and focused on the two enemies left standing.

"And that's that..." Akira took a step forward, his smirk widening as he adjusted his red gloves. "... Show's over."

 **"You arrogant peasant brats!"** Kamoshida spat with an ugly snarl as he stood up with shaky legs, his skin red and aching from the heat. To the king's left, Gilles de Rais was kneeling as his body sizzled and bubbled from the burned injuries—yet his eyes were entirely focused on the two girls hugging, completely ignoring the fact that they were the only ones left to oppose the thieves or how badly hurt he was.

"My saint…"

"You're going down Kamoshida!" Ryuji growled as he pointed his yellow gloved hand at the king. "We're going to beat the shit out of you and steal your treasure!"

The king froze and raised an eyebrow. **"What…?"**

"Skull, you moron!" Morgana snapped as he jumped beside the redhead, his big eyes narrowing with displeasure. "Stop antagonizing the Palace Ruler so early on!"

 **"My treasure…?"** Kamoshida sneered, his face red from rage. **"You damn losers dare think you can steal my treasure!? Me!? The king!?"**

There was shift that did not go unnoticed by the boys, a sickly pressure that screamed at them to move.

"What the…?" Akira trailed off as he looked around, the airs in the back of his neck stood straight as a bad feeling began to swell up in his stomach.

Morgana's eyes widened considerably as he felt the shift in the Palace. "Oh… oh this isn't good."

 **"You worthless losers! I'll have you all killed!"** Kamoshida roared, his yellow eyes bright with hatred as he glared at the thieves. He turned towards his Servant and sneered. **"Get up!"**

Gilles turned towards the king with his bulged eyes. "My liege—?"

**"I said get the fuck up Caster!"**

Gillles pursed his lips as he stared at the maddened king. A soft sigh escaping his mouth as he stood up easily, as if his body was not injured. "AAA… I see, then the time for charades is over. What is your order, my Master?"

Ryuji gritted his teeth and turned towards Akira. "Hey, aren't they acting too serious all of a sudden?"

"What do you expect idiot!?" Morgana growled out with a small hop. "After so much commotion happening in the Palace, the Ruler is on high alert! That means that when you started mouthing off about stealing the treasure, you got the Shadows all flustered and ready to kick us out!"

"Oh shit! For real!?" The blonde male recoiled back and turned towards the Master and Servant duo who now stood side by side with their eyes set intently on them. "But we don't even know where the treasure is!"

"So…huh…" Shirou started as he looked at the rest of the team with uncertainty, not fully understanding the mechanics of the Palace yet. "Should we go and look for it now? Before getting kick out?"

"No." Akira said firmly. "That's not an option as of now. You and Takamaki will be getting tired after the awakening. We need to pull back and come for the treasure later."

Shirou looked at him, nodded and opened his mouth to respond—

 **"Pull back…?"** The boys turned towards the king as he glared at them. **"You damn peasants aren't escaping anywhere! I ain't letting you pieces of shit escape me! Caster!"**

"Master?" The blasphemous being turned towards the king, his long face stony and awaiting for instructions. Kamoshida raised his left hand with a snarled, clenched into a fist until the room started flashing red.

"What the…?" Ryuji started as he stared at the scene in bewilderment. Behind him, Ann and Shiho had stopped comforting one another and turned to see the events unfolding before them.

**" _Obey me!_ Don't let anyone escape this castle!"**

There was a sudden rush of power through the air—and in instance a red marking flashed on the king's raised hand. It was red and shaped like a rose divided into three portions of petals.

The thieves all looked in confusion at the sudden event.

"What was that!?" Morgana questioned with wide eyes. Ryuji turned towards him with incredulous eyes behind his skull mask.

"Are you for real!? What the hell are you confused about!?"

Kamoshida snarled at them and roared. **"Caster! I want everyone who tries to escape to be killed or raped by your monsters! NOW!"**

The room flashed red once more and the marking appeared again, but this time the right side portion of the petals had dimmed. The left side flashed and dimmed as well, only leaving the bottom side of the rose still glowing red.

The thieves all tensed.

"What's happening?" Shiho look around in confusion. Ann beside her sneered at the furious king.

"You're pathetic Kamoshida…you nothing but a loser who should burn!"

**"Fuck you! Caster! Why aren't you obeying my orders!?"**

Gilles looked up, his cold and empty bulged eyes focused on the thieves. He raised his human skinned book and let out a breath.

"OooOO—as you command of me, my Master."

As the words escaped the deranged Servant's mouth, the entire castle began to rumble violently. The debris and shards of the broken room began to shake uncontrollably. The chandeliers left hanging on the ceiling lighting up the room swayed erratically from left to right in a dizzying manner, their lights fizzling out and dropping from the violent seizure. Any art piece depicting Kamoshida that was left fell to the floor from the movement and shook along with the debris.

"Whoa—!" Ryuji grunted as he nearly fell to the floor, but caught himself in time by using the crowbar he used to fight as crutch. He gritted his teeth as he looked around with confused eyes.

"What the hell is happening!?" Akira dropped to his knees to keep himself from face faulting. His usual smirk had disappeared at the event and his hand instinctively went for his mask. Deep within him, Arsene's greed and urge for violence wanted to burst out at the sign of danger surrounding him.

"Is this normal….?" Shirou asked through bared teeth as he glared at the perfectly balanced Kamoshida and Gilles.

"No!" Morgana ground out, laid back on the floor after loosing his footing. He rolled so he could be on all fours. "This isn't normal at all—!"

His words were cut as at that moment, a wall of writhing and slimy tentacles appeared outside the castle. They rose slowly, hundreds upon hundreds swaying hypnotically behind the king and the Caster. The sky beyond the destroyed wall was darken by the mass of meat as they rouse up and covered anything beyond their horrific limbs. As they finished their show of appearance, they moved forward… like the ocean's waves moving in slow motion.

The thieves all froze at the sight of it, transfixed and in horrified awe at the spectacle…then—!

"RUN!"

Morgana's cracked howl snapped the teenagers out of their stupor and they turned towards him as he jumped and for the exit—away from the approaching tentacles. The human thieves could only watch as he ran off in bewilderment and surprise. The order to retreat barely registering as Morgana reached for a door on the opposite end of the approaching horrors, then he jumped, and kicked opened the door to escape for the hallway beyond.

"Did he seriously ju—!?" Ryuji started but cut himself off when he snapped his head back to the tentacles and saw them far too close for comfort. Like an avalanche they spilled all over the destroyed room at frightening speeds now, filling every inch as they spread everywhere—but taking careful consideration not to barrel both Kamoshida and Gilles.

The thieves wouldn't be so lucky.

"Shit! Book it!" Akira ordered now in full alert, turning tail, he ran after the thieves' feline companion. The others followed suit easily, running with their teeth bare and desperation to live as the spot they stood on was destroyed by the sea of writhing appendages.

Gilles watched them go with a frown, his eyes intently focused on the two girls. He reached with his free hand towards them until they disappeared through the door and outside of the room with the tentacles right in their heels. Kamoshida sneered in contempt and went to reach for his discarded and burnt cape underneath one of the tentacles.

**"Damn brats…you'll fucking learn what it means to mess with me…!"**

In the halls, the thieves ran for dear life. The teenagers all caught up to the much shorter Morgana who had stopped and waited for them with a scowl. Whatever he was about to say was cut off as the mass of writhing limbs destroyed the doors behind the thieves and filled the halls quickly, wishing to reach them and tear them apart.

Morgana turned around and ran alongside his team as they did the only thing they could—run as fast as they could.

"We need to get out of this place!" Shiho screamed as she looked back at the tentacles. She paled as she saw them grow closer and closer by the second. The sight of them giving her enough of a push to run even faster and ahead of the group.

Now following the thief in white, they took a right at the end of the hall—stumbling and crushing against the walls for the wide turn—and were met with a long corridor with ornate and colorful crystal windows, at the end of it was a tall white wooden door. Recuperating quickly they just let their legs move as fast as possible.

"What about the treasure!? Don't we need that!?" Ryuji screamed as he started to gain speed and pull ahead himself, he twisted back to look at the others.

"I don't think we have time to be worrying about that!" Shirou admonished as he too twisted his torso to look at the sea of meat behind them with dread.

"I'm going to make that perverted asshat pay for all of this shit! I swear to god—!" Ann furiously ranted, her tolerance for the day already at an all-time low.

If the other thieves were going to say something, it would be kept to themselves as ahead of them several of the ornate windows exploded violently. The shards of glass flying everywhere, making the thieves recoil, stopping their sprint and unconsciously cover their faces as the shards reached them. Shirou let his arms drop, noticing the shards embedded on his skin and the blood tickling down—his attention for his injuries went forgotten as even more tentacles poured in, filling the corridor ahead of them like waves spiraling out of control and heading for them.

"Are you shitting me!" Ryuji's not so subtle cry describing perfectly what they felt.

"What do we do!?" Shirou asked as he looked back and forth towards both approaching dead ends intending to crush them.

"Fight!" Akira cried out as he tore his mask off and Arsene burst to life above him with blue flames surrounding him and his black wings flapping in agitation. He turned towards Shiho. "Tiger! Use Sforza's bless attack to knock this things off balance now!"

"Understood Joker! Let's go!" Shiho responded quickly as she tore her own mask and had her Persona appear behind her, the tiger on Sforza's shoulder roared. Her Persona spun around and multiple spheres of lights were fired erratically. The ball of lights hit the mass of meat closing on them, exploding and causing the tentacles to recoil back from the strikes.

This was what the team needed as the horrors hit by Sforza's attacks lashed out in pain and retreated back in such a violent manner that they tore the corridor's walls and the other limbs beside them to pieces. It was enough to give the thieves the time they needed for their counter strike…

But it was also a very nauseating spectacle of gore and blood.

"Way to go Tiger! Very nice!" Morgana crowd as he ready his sword with a vicious grin.

"Whoa…!" Shirou looked in awe at Sforza before looking down at Shiho. Ann ripped her own mask off and gritted her teeth.

"Let's go Carmen! We can't let Shiho carry the burdens of others by herself anymore!" Carmen eyes flashed, snarling as she chomped on the cigar on her mouth. She twisted her body and sent a wave of fire towards the recoiling tentacles that had been following them and letting her fury burn them down.

Akira nodded at the fireworks. "Don't stand there! Let's get this show started!"

"Hell yeah!" Ryuji grin as his mask was ripped off and Captain Kidd was unleashed. Both him and Arsene began their assaults on the other side.

The gentleman thieve in red flew through the air, twisting its body to unleashed a devastating round house kick with his bladed heels. The red thief chuckled as the limbs recoiled at being cut, he spread his arms wide and black power was gathered in them, he unleashed the curse energy with gleeful and mocking laughter. Captain Kidd smirked viciously as he sailed with his ship at high speeds, pointed his cannon hand forward and let loose a torrent of lightning that had the recovering tentacles shocked—not even a second later they were rammed through.

Morgana watched the spectacle with gleeful eyes and jumped beside Ann, letting Zorro appear.

"Allow me Lady Ann!" The gentlemanly Persona swung it's blade in 'Z' pattern and powerful currents of winds were unleashed towards the burning tentacles, fanning the flames even more and pushing them even further back and burning even more of the tentacles.

Lightning, curse, bless, fire and wind were unleashed with powerful and determined cries. Each and every attack pushing the opposition back with the full fury that their rebel souls could muster. Shirou just stood in the middle of this onslaught and watched it all with awe.

"Incredible…!"

"Hey!" Ryuji called out and made the redhead turned towards him. Ryuji squinted an eye out at him. "What the hell are you doing standing there for, come on man! Help out!"

Shirou blinked behind his iron helm, blushed slightly as burning sensation of shame filled him.

"I—!" His response was immediately cut as the windows beside the group exploded into hundreds of shards of glass, each one falling dangerously and cutting the thieves up—but they ignored the pain and discomfort as an ocean of tentacles fell over their heads.

The thieves froze and all looked up with wide eyes at their impending deaths.

"Cra—!" Akira started to curse, his eyes focused on the writhing limbs dropping in and ready to crush them beneath their overwhelming weight. All the Personas move to turned and defeat the new problem…

But it was too late—

There was nothing that could be done.

Except—!

"Trace—!" Shirou's hands moved, as in one fluid move he ripped his black iron mask off, showing off his determined and cooled glare. Mordred burst to life and was already on the move. Fire burned the air surrounding the knight as it swung its blade towards the falling wall of limbs with all of his might and made them recoiled back with overwhelming physical might. Mordred reached with his free hand towards the spear in his chest and ripped it off—showering Shirou in fire as he jumped up with both hands open.

"ON!"

His empty hands were filled with metal and he swung with reckless abandon. The swords cut through and rendered seven tentacles useless and falling helplessly down to the void below as Shirou advanced forward and—

His instinct screamed at him to swing to his right and he did, Bakuya lightened up the corridor in its arc and cut the dozens of sneaking tentacles with a single swing. Shirou let the blade fly out of his hand, allowing it to continue with its mayhem. Behind him more of the limbs attempted to grab him and tear him to pieces—but this was not meant to be as the redhead twisted his body, dodging the incoming limbs and cutting them with Kanshou. Once more he let the sword slip through his fingers, cutting any tentacle attempting to sneak in and attack his team.

The wall of tentacles recovered from Mordred's parry and moved in, before Shirou had time to recover his body was captured by the tentacles. All of the limbs move to entrap him into a cocoon and crush him until there was nothing but a mangled corpse.

"Shir—!" An alarm Shiho screamed as she watched this, her Persona still on the move to her after the surprise attack. Sforza glared ready to unleash an attack and free the redhead, but—

An explosion of gore and blood ensued as Shirou, now once more carrying Kanshou and Bakuya spun erratically and freed himself. He moved forward, towards the opposing wall of tentacles and threw both swords. Kanshou and Bakuya moved flawlessly through the air, cutting and slicing anything in their way as the limbs attempted to get close to him. But their efforts where in vain as the appendages were rendered either useless or too short to do anything.

Shirou was now in midair and out of the corridor facing the shortening ocean of tentacles. The limbs realizing the danger all shot forward, like a hand trying to grab him and squeeze him to death. The redhead clicked his tongue as his glared with his golden-brown eyes at the tentacled hand closing in on him.

"This is getting repetitive!" At Shirou's cry, Kanshou and Bakuya appeared once more in his hand and he cut and sliced at anything that threatened to get too close. A single tentacle managed to sneak by his wall of slashes and speared for his back.

It never reached, Mordred joined its user and began slashing with its large blade. So they danced in the mayhem, keeping themselves from falling by using the same tentacles they attacked as footholds.

"Holy shit…!" Ryuji trailed off as he watched the spectacle.

Akira turned away from the show and smirked, he noticed that both dead ends were closing in on them far too quickly for his liking. He turned towards his team. "People!"

"What do we do Joker!?" Morgana asked as he jumped back alongside Shiho and Ann, tightening themselves into a small circle with their Personas acting as vanguards.

"Let's go outside and help out Shirou." Akira pointed out with a thumb towards the still fighting redhead. "We can't stay inside anymore, we need space."

"Whoa! You want us jumping off the castle!?" Ryuji asked in disbelief.

"No you moron!" Morgana spat as he jumped, landed on the blonde male's face and jumped off. Ignoring the sputtering and startled Ryuji, the cat landed on a cut tentacle as Zorro disappeared and turned towards the rest of the team still inside of the corridor. "We'll scale up the castle!"

After saying this, he jumped up and disappear from their view. Before Ryuji had the chance to retort in anger at having his face stomped on, Shiho took the initiative and followed after the cat.

"Come on!" She encouraged as she jumped as well, her Persona returning back to her face as a mask. Ann glared at the tentacles approaching, wanting more than anything to let her anger run wild—but even she started to realize the signs of fatigue building within her. She moved away from the potential battle, Carmen returning to her as her mask and jumped away as well.

Akira gestured for Ryuji to move on, the blonde grumbled and jumped towards a cut tentacle with Captain Kidd disappearing. The dark trench coat thief nodded and jumped just in time before he was crushed by the tentacles in the corridor. Arsene followed him as he landed on a limb and looked at the redhead.

"Shirou!" His shout caught the sword wielding teen off guard and made him look up from his offensive. Breathing hard and sweating profusely, he let out a startled yelped as he fell when he missed a step to keep himself in the air. "Damn! Arsene go!"

The red gentleman thief flew for Shirou at high speeds, the redhead gritted his teeth as he noted more and more tentacles appearing from below, all on the move to grab and kill him. He got ready to keep cutting—

White spheres passed by him, impacting the tentacles, making them recoil back. He looked up towards Shiho, who was holding on to the side of the castle with her Persona out. He grinned slightly at that, before his vision was obscure by Arsene, who grabbed his forearms with his sharpened hands, twisted and threw him up towards Akira who was waiting with a hand out to grab him while he leaned off a nearby ledge on the castle's walls.

Shirou let the sword fall from his grasp and grabbed the dark haired teen's hand, and with surprising strength pulled him towards the ledge. The redhead breathed deeply as his and Akira's mask returned to their faces. The two turned towards each other and Akira smirked.

"Didn't you just awaken? You're pulling some pretty fancy stunts here, you know?"

Shirou shrugged. "We've made it this far… I'm not going to let something as stupid as fatigue get us kill…"

"Guys come on!" Shiho's voice forced them to look up as the rest of the thieves were waiting for them.

Akira chuckled and looked at him. "Let's not keep them waiting then. We've made it this far… we can make it even further."

Shirou nodded and jumped up, followed by Akira as they left the severed tentacles twitching and lashing out violently behind them. Like dark shadows, the thieves climbed on the walls of the castle—away from the horrific limbs that attacked them. They stopped by a ledge, only one floor below the castle's roof to look down at the insanity below.

Everything had changed, instead of the abnormal castle that had greeted the thieves, it had become a nightmare of never ending movements—dark, slimy and writhing tentacles poured out of the castle's moat and sewers. The water becoming dark as the moving limbs climbed up in an endless hurl, enveloping the structures walls and spiraling up like a flower blossoming in reverse.

It was a disgusting and dispiriting sight.

"What the fuck…?" Ryuji cursed unconsciously as he looked disturbed by the sight below him.

"This is worse than I thought…" Morgana started. "I knew Servants had some level of control over Palaces…but this is much worse than what I could have ever imagined."

Everyone turned towards the cat, as Akira asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that a Palace experiencing this much change in cognition is way too extreme! Who knows what this could cause in reality! For all we know Kamoshida can be dying back in the real world."

"Good riddance if you ask me." Ann callously said as she glared spitefully at the rising tentacles. Shiho looked at her and placed a hand on her arm.

"Goddamn…she's pissed off…" Ryuji muttered as he pulled on his red scarf. Shirou looked at the blonde, then focused on Morgana.

"So what now? You guys were planning on stealing the treasure before we messed everything up…so we pull back?"

The cat nodded with a serious expression. "Yeah, that's for the best."

"How!?" Ryuji's incredulous cry made everyone turned towards him. He gestured towards the entrance. "Look at that! We can' even get there at all! I bet we can't even use that hole we always use to sneak into this freaky place!"

"You're right, but…" Akira's calm voice made the blonde boy scratched the back of his head irritatingly. The dark haired teen gestured towards the wooden bridge connecting the castle's entrance and the street that lead towards the school, which was free from any influence of the tentacles. "If we can get to the bridge, we can jump out of the Palace."

"Wait, for real!?" Morgana groaned at Ryuji's disbelieving tone.

"This Palace stuff really gets way over my head…" Ann shook her head and winced, Shiho noticed this.

"Ann, are you okay?"

The blonde girl nodded. "Yeah… I'm just getting tired…"

Shiho frowned behind her mask and turned towards the silent Shirou, who's black iron face stared down below at the tentacles as they hugged the walls, pouring in through the windows and roused up like water in a cup. "Shirou-kun…!"

"Huh?" The redhead turned away from the spectacle to look at the girl.

"You must be feeling tired too, right? I guess you were the first one to awaken to your Persona, so you must be exhausted."

Shirou waved her off and smiled slightly. "Don't worry about me, really its no big deal."

"We should be worrying, idiot." Morgana cut in scathingly as he looked at the redhead with narrowed eyes. "Awakenings are incredibly tiresome. You pushing yourself more and more is only going to lead to you getting yourself kill."

"Then let's get out of here." Akira said with finality, everyone turned towards him as he put his right hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Let's try and find a safe room and use the App to transport ourselves to the entrance."

"Huh?" Ryuji crossed his arms and squinted his eyes. "You think that'll work? We kinda used it to go to the safe room we found to bust Suzui, Takamaki and Emiya out the first time, but you think we can use it like that?"

"I don't see why not." Akira said as he pocketed the phone. Morgana jumped up in agitation.

"You don't see why not!?" The feline thieve grabbed his big head with his paws and shook it. "How about all the stuff the Servant's doing!? How about when Kamoshida said that no one leaves the castle went into complete chaos!"

At that, the thieves got silent and look at each other. Shirou scratched his left cheek in discomfort.

"It's best we try and find that safe room first and see what we can and can't do."

Shiho nodded, she looked at Ann and helped her steady her footing. "Seems like a plan to me."

"The let's go." Akira said and looked at Morgana. "You think you can navigate us through the path of less resistance?"

"I'll see what I can do, because right now my smell is all messed up…though…" He took a few sniffs at the air and the cat jumped ahead of the team. He darted up until he was holding onto a set of railings and looked at a large tower with thorns adorning the very top of the structure. "I can definitely smell the treasure!"

Akira just shook his head and jumped to catch up to Morgana, the rest following after him. "Let's worry about that later!"

With that the team moved further up and away from the encroaching tentacles. They landed on the castle's roof, looked at the large tower that Morgana was pointedly looking at and—!

"H-Hey! What's the big deal you jerk!"

The team froze and let their eyes set on the scene before them. Hundreds of the monsters that Gilles summoned were everywhere, eating and battling the Shadows that resided over the castle. All the Shadows, differentiating in size and forms as they had shed their knight forms to fight to their fullest potential, fought with all their might against the never ending hoard of horrors. More and more massive tentacles broke through the walls greedily as they went for the many Shadows.

But it wasn't enough.

"Shit! Even all those guys are getting screwed over!" Ryuji growled, Shirou's hands were filled with his blades and he looked towards Akira.

"Where's the safe room?" Akira narrowed his eyes at the question as he observed the battlefield.

"I don't know…but I guess we'll have to find out by crossin—!" His words were interrupted as the castle trembled violently and behind them the floor exploded into ruble. The thieves flinched and looked back just in time to see a swarm of twitching limbs reach for them—

Shirou reacted quickly, his black and white blades moving at breakneck speeds and cutting the first wave of tentacles. As the blood and limbs fell down, more and more of horrors poured forward.

"Damn it! Carmen!" The blonde teenager roar, her red mask ripped off to let her Persona manifest and unleashed a wave of fire towards the approaching limbs.

"It's not enough!" Shiho yelled as the tentacles went through the fire and tried to reached for Ann who recoiled back—only to be quickly tackled by Ryuji.

"Got ya!" He grinned as the girl looked at him with surprise and then back towards the limbs that came in waves and quickly started to fill the roof. The blonde male thief cursed as he noticed that only he, Ann and Shiho were around. "Hey! Is everyone okay!?"

"We're fine!" Morgana shouted at him as he, Akira and Shirou jumped back to avoid a stray tentacle that nearly flattened them down. Shirou clicked his tongue and looked around frantically at the chaos. He saw crates that were stacked atop each other and were high enough to reach the high railings.

"Guys!" The redhead's voice made the thieves pay attention closely. "Get to higher ground! The railings!"

"You hear that Skull!?" Akira asked as he prepped himself for a jump.

"You got it man! Let's do this!"

With that the thieves quickly moved, getting to higher ground as the roof was fully engulfed and the fighting Shadows were crushed, ripped apart or swallowed by the tentacles and taken high to the distorted skies.

On the railings, the three male members of the team ran with careful footing to avoid falling. Shirou was on the lead with Morgana and Akira following respectively. The monsters noticed their prey on higher grounds and let out screeches as went on the move.

"We got trouble!" Morgana's warning made the two boys notice the fast approaching limbs. Gritting his teeth, Shirou ripped his mask off and allowing Mordred to appear. Already on the attack, the burning knight quickly slashed the limbs off, batting away the lifeless remains. The redhead readied himself to attack the rest of the appendages, but—

"Shirou watch—!" Akira's warning was cut short and forgotten as the redhead was quickly grabbed by one of the tentacles through his left ankle. He was lifted, letting out a surprise cry, he nearly dropped his blades as he was swung upward towards the sky.

"Whoaa!" Shirou screamed, his vision spinning as the tentacle manhandled him. He was brought to a stop in a very high altitude, looking around frantically he caught sight of Akira and Morgan looking at him with concern. His eyes went wide as he caught sight of the aquatic creatures sneaking behind them, he let out a cry of warning that never reached them as the railing they were standing on was destroyed by the swarm of tentacles and monsters. "No—!"

His grunt was cut short as another tentacle grabbed a hold of his neck. The air got stuck in his lungs as the disgusting flesh tightened up, then it started to pull while the limb around his leg did the same towards the opposite direction. His eyes widened at what was happening and his teeth were bared in frustration and desperation as he moved to free himself—!

"Captain Kidd!"

"Sforza!"

"Carmen!"

Light spheres mercilessly struck the tentacles attempting to rip him in two, forcing them to release him as they violently thrashed about in pain. The two flinching limbs were then embroiled in bursts of lighting and fire. He looked down towards the opposite side of where he and the rest were running and saw Shiho, Ann and Ryuji all jumping on top of the tentacles to avoid getting caught as they moved upward with each hop.

"Dude! Grab on to something!" Ryuji screamed as Shirou passed them in his fall.

"Shirou!" Shiho cried as she tried to dive for him, but—

"Zorro!" A gust of wind pushed him towards a tentacle that was on hot pursuit for Ryuji, Ann and Shiho. As the redhead was pushed, he caught sight of Morgana passing right before him and his gentlemanly Persona using his big and hulky arms to grab and then throw him towards one of the tentacles. Shirou landed swiftly, catching his bearings just as quickly as possible.

"Let's go!" Akira ordered with Arsene flying right beside him, using its bladed stiletto to cut any of the limbs that dared to approach him.

"We can get to the top of that tower!" Morgana pointed out as he reached Ryuji and took the lead. "If the treasure is up there, then there's most definitely a safe room too!"

"Are you sure!?" Ann question as she hurriedly jumped off the tentacle she jumped to as it tried to ensnare itself around her. Morgana just continued with his jumping and didn't look at her.

"Maybe!"

"Goddamn it man!" Ryuji growled out, ready to deliver another round of verbal assaults. His words were caught up in his throat as the tower they were trying to reach was quickly being enveloped with hundreds of tentacles all coming from below.

"Shit, what the hell!?" Akira cursed at the sight before.

"Fuck! Why are these things so disgusting!?" Ann moaned in distaste as they neared the tower with their hops.

As the tower was being enveloped, the tentacles started bulging. In between each limb the mouths of the aquatic creatures emerged. The tower, now completely covered by tentacles and gaping mouths all around the structure, met the eyes of the thieves. Before any of them could react at the disgusting sight, the mouths closed, swelled up as they swallowed and then opened up as hundreds of them released a gooey black substance directly towards the thieves .

"Whoa!" Morgana who was leading the charge jumped in between a crack of the wall of the slimy substance. The others tried to followed suit, but their bigger frames and slower reactions had them all get caught by the creatures black spit.

"KYAAH!"

"DAMN—!?"

"Shit! FUCK—!"

"GAH!"

"HRGK!"

The human thieves all howled in pain as most of their limbs and torsos were hit and burned. They fell down, Morgana watched from above as he hopped over another limb to stay on the move and desperately attempted to come with a plan to save them.

Shirou looked down at his exposed arms, as they fell forward toward the tower, and saw them sizzling and disfiguring as the wet slime burned like acid. He grimaced as he saw his right leg and most of the left side of his body armor following suit. He let his eyes wonder to the rest of his team and saw them in the same state as him. His eyes focused back on the tower and saw the greedy monster's mouths widening to swallow them and rip them to shreds.

Shirou's eyes flashed in anger as he ripped the iron helm off his face with a growl. Mordred appeared behind him, ripping the spear out of its chest with a violent tug and letting out a burning roar as he and his power of rebellion plunged forwards.

"What is he…?" Akira question with a grimaced as his dark trench coat burned. He focused on the burning knight as it held its sword, ready for a powerful swing and spear to thrust forward. Shirou himself held his two swords over his head he plummeted faster than the rest for the side of the tower and—

"SKULL!"

Ryuji, still grimacing in pain, looked at the dark hair thief who pointed hurriedly towards Shirou. The blonde understood quickly and ripped his mask. "Bash their heads in Cap'n!"

The pirate Persona burst into motion at ramming speeds, reaching the redhead just in time to help with his efforts.

What followed next was a giant explosion of gore and debris. It was an impressive display of power by the redhead, but it also proved to be a disgusting spectacle as flayed, burnt and severed monster flesh flew through the air alongside the dust of the destroyed wall. Dark blood fell down easily from the damaged creatures and tentacles like rain.

The falling thieves braced themselves as they fell through the hole made by the redhead and crashed. Their bodies tumbling and rolling awkwardly, as the pointy debris and shattered monster teeth dug into them. They howled and grunted, while a scream escaped Ann's mouth as she crashed head first into the stone wall. Ryuji nearly knocked himself out as the leg that had been broken in the real word impacted a column violently.

Finally their descent stopped and they were on the floor, bloodied and beaten—but not out yet.

"Oh… my god… I hate this place…" Ann cursed in a dizzy manner. Shiho tried to stand up, her body badly hurt and her white outfit now stained red.

"This was… a lot worse than I thought…"

"Guys!" The teenagers all turned to see Morgana run towards them. The cat's big blue eyes went wide in shock at the sight of them. "Oh hell! Zorro! Heal them!"

His Persona manifested and started healing Ann first as she was the closest to him, though, much slower than normal.

Akira got to his feet, his face scrunching up in pain. He slumped forward, hands on his knees to steady himself and observed the fallen group. He heard crunching steps behind him and turned towards Shirou who used the wall to keep himself on his feet. The redhead turned towards him and grimaced as he looked down at his right arm.

"Shirou…" The dark leader gasped out as he stared at the awkwardly bent arm. The redhead could only growl in response as words failed him due to the pain.

"S-Shit man…" Ryuji hopped with one leg towards them and fell down on his butt with groan. He turned towards Shirou and gave him a pained grin. "I know how much it hurts having broken bones man."

"Gah…" Shirou only winced and took a shaky breath. Morgana grimaced as he stared at the redhead, he jumped when a firm hand took a hold of his paws and forced him to look at Ann who got her knees. She looked somewhat healed as she gave him a firm nod.

"Go and take care of him."

"Lady Ann…" The cat stared at her in awe, he shook his head and nodded with a resolute gaze. He ran towards Shirou and had Zorro perform his healing on him. He looked up at the redhead. "You're pretty badly hurt…so I don't think I can heal you completely, I'm already pretty beat from that freak. I want to save enough stamina to heal up the rest…at least enough to move on."

"It's fine…" Shirou assure the feline as he took a deep breath and felt his body start to mend together. "Just get my arm fixed up…"

Shiho wobbled slightly with each step she took until she landed on the floor beside Ryuji with a huff. She looked at Shirou with worry. "What were you thinking when you did that!? Look at what you did to yourself!"

The redhead avoided her gaze. "I… I really wasn't thinking at all…"

"Well you should've." Akira admonished. "Not thinking seems to be Skull's shtick."

"Humph, ass…" Ryuji smirked at the words. Morgana stepped away from the redhead and nodded at his handiwork.

"You seem good enough for now." He then moved on towards Ryuji. "Let's get you hea—!"

A violent tremor cut the thieve off and the hole made by Shirou was filled with monsters and tentacles. Slime and screeches all directed at the surprise thieves as the adrenaline suddenly pumped in.

"Wha—shit! When is it going to stop!?" Ann nearly screeched. The injured thieves got to their feet, but Ryuji quickly fell face first thanks to the injured leg.

"Shit…! Not this again…" He cursed as he tried to get back to his, but failed. Akira moved in to help him, but his own unhealed injuries proved too difficult to do. He cursed under his breath and rounded on Shirou who had his swords in hands once more and was ready to face off against the monstrosity brought forth by the Servant.

"Shirou!" His shout caught the redhead's attention as he turned his head towards him. "Forget fighting! Help Ryuji!"

"Got it!" He trew his swords towards the mass of tentacles carelessly and made his way towards the fallen blond. He quickly grabbed him and hoisted him up on his shoulder. He turned towards Akira who was already moving forward, with wobbly legs, yet his steps did not fail him.

"Lady Ann do you need—!?" Morgana's concern question went ignored as the blonde girl helped Shiho up to her feet. The dark hair girl put her arm around Ann's shoulder and started running.

"Just tell us where the safe room is already!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying Lady Ann!" Morgana shouted as he ran forward and erratically looked around. He froze. "I think… I think I feel something like safe room nearby!"

"Then lets run for it!" Shiho shouted as they move quickly, the sea of tentacles hot on their heels.

Shirou, pushing his own body to the limit, went ahead, carrying Ryuji he saw that the entire room beginning to shift and changed in bizarre ways. With the floor pulling itself up and down, revealing a wet oily substance running on the walls and floors. The statues of female students bust and butts eerily turning towards them as if to show off their bodies.

It was all eerie and infuriating, but there was no time to let the emotion settle in. As the limbs and monsters behind them chased them with fervor.

"The safe room is beyond that door!" Morgana's scream made every thief run for their lives as their hearts were fueled with hope and great desire to escape.

Shirou gritted his teeth as he saw a door in the way of their escape. He skidded to a stop, raised his right foot up and kicked the door open with all his might. He felt Ryuji tightening his hold over him and hear him muttering something along the lines of him having a good kick. He pulled forward and—

"Grah!"

"Gyah—!"

Both teenagers were swatted away by a tentacle into one of the statues of female's torso, crashing into it. Both boys slid down with pained grunts.

"Shirou, Ryuji!" The concerned cries of their teammates made them look up despite the pain. Shirou shook his head as he stood shakily and glared at the opposition.

"You…"

"Kamoshdia!" Ann growled as she stared at the king, who glared at them and Gilles who stood beside the Palace Ruler. Tentacles and the lovecraftian creatures all filled the room twitching and screaming, but not moving to attack. Many of the tentacles had Shadows in their grasps. All of which were fighting to try and set themselves free. But it was to no avail—such was the power of the Servant.

Behind the king was a transparent door.

"The safe room!" Morgana hissed as he glared at Kamoshida.

 **"You're not getting away."** The king sneered at them.

Shirou helped Ryuji to his feet and tried to make his way towards the team. The other thieves, seeing what the redhead was attempting to do met him halfway and united up. Being together was much preferable than being separated now that the odds were against them. Kamoshida and Gilles's gaze never broke from their forms as they moved.

Akira stepped forward, despite his injuries he grasped his mask and smirked mockingly.

"We're not listening to a third rate loser like you, so out of the way."

The king of the castle let out a strangled scream at the words. The already tense atmosphere became heavier and suffocating. The tentacles and screeching monsters ceased their movements as the room fluctuated red. The deranged Caster looked towards his Master in surprise as he shook—Gilles took a step back as he looked on.

"OOOooo…such fury…"

Kamoshida looked at the thieves and grinned, his eyes went wide.

 **"Hehehe…third rate loser huh…? I'll show you just how wrong you are to doubt the king!"** His body began to distort. The temperature began to rise up as an uncomfortable heat escaped the kings twitching body until he was obscure by steam. **"You fucking brats… _I ain't letting you sleep tonight!"_**

As the words reached the ears of the thieves, from the steam a long and salivating purple tongue was whipped towards them at great speeds from above. The team barely had any time to gasp in surprise as they all jump to the side and avoided getting flattened.

"Crap! Shit—!" Ryuji cursed, with a snarl as his injured leg hit the floor. He looked up and froze as from the steam a large pink demon with multiple arms and legs came rushing towards him. "What the h—!?"

Ryuji's words were cut off as he was tackled out of the way by both Akira and Shiho. All three teenagers rolled through the floor as the wall behind them was destroyed by the pink demon. Akira got to his feet in mid-roll and stood beside Shirou who had jumped back in time. On the floor both Ryuji and Shiho stopped their stumbling and were shaking their heads to get rid of the dizziness.

"What is that thing?" Shirou asked incredulously as the smoked clear to reveal the demon that had charged at them.

"No way…" Shiho breathed out as she watched the familiar cape, crown and curly hair from the wide eyed pink demon.

 **"You better believe you no-good pieces of shit."** The now transformed Kamoshida snarled disgustingly as his tongue swayed from left to right erratically, causing globs of saliva to spill onto the damaged floor. He stabbed a golden knife down on the floor and spun a similar fork with his lowers arms and balanced delicately the wine glass and pointed at them with his riding crop with his upper arms. **"I'm going to show you why I'm the king you shitty brat—Argghhh!"**

Kamoshida's intimidation tactic was quickly discarded as he howled in pain from the unexpected wave of fire hitting him squarely in his back. He leaned forward in pain, nearly crushing the thieves with his head—but they managed to avoid such fate when Kamoshida turned towards Ann, who had Carmen out.

The blonde girl breathed heavily, signs of her exhaustion from her awakening and battles already wearing her down—yet she stood tall, refusing to back down.

"Come on Kamoshida… bring it on! Or are you too much of a loser!"

Kamoshida screamed with fury as he swiped his thick tongue at her, forcing her to throw herself towards the floor to avoid getting hit. His tongue hit the floor beside her destroying it, Ann got to her feet and went on the move.

Morgana jumped above the rumble, gaining higher ground, before stopping and looked towards the thieves alongside Akira. He pointed towards the transparent door on the opposite side. "Move it! Get to the safe room!"

"No! Ann!" Shiho got to her feet quickly as she saw her friend getting chased by the demon Kamoshida.

Akira got over quickly towards Ryuji and helped him to his feet. "She's using herself as bait…damn it."

"I'll help her." Shirou offered as he moved forward, but was stopped by Shiho.

"No…!" She shook her head and gave him a firm look. "You're already tired and hurt! I'll help her an—ah!"

She yelped in surprise as Shirou shoved her roughly away from him just as one of the monsters that Gilles used jumped towards them—its gaping mouth ready to swallow the two whole. Akira seeing the danger pushed Ryuji towards Shiho to get out of the way faster. The monster smacked itself against the wall, denting it—yet the creature easily recovered and turned around to go for the downed Ryuji.

"Ryuji!" Akira exclaimed in surprised as he moved, but was pulled back—nearly falling to the floor—by Shirou just as three thick tentacles spear themselves where Akira would've been. "Damn it no! Ryuji!"

"Light them up Sforza!" The battle cry from Shiho and the ensuing rumbles, made the two teens freeze in anticipation. "Get to the safe room! I'll take Sakamoto-kun there and go for Ann!"

"Leave her to us!" Shirou shouted instinctively as he looked towards the deranged Caster who raised his human skin book towards them.

"Just go to the safe room!" Akira ripped his mask and Arsene was out. "Shirou! You ready!"

"Let's go!"

Gilles let out a shuddering breath. "You're not needed…I will have my saint in my grasp! AAAAAAAaaa she's mine!"

The floor around the mad Caster exploded as dozens of nightmarish creatures poured out and threw themselves towards the two thieves. Akira and Shirou bared their teeth as they jumped away and towards the rubble, gaining the high ground and a viewpoint towards the rampaging Kamoshida.

"We need to get to Ann quickly." Akira said but was forced to jump away just another one of Gilles monster's jumped in trying to consume him. Fortunately, Shirou's quick instinct helped him to react fast enough to cut it down.

"Damn it, we can't get to her wi—!"

"Just go!" Morgana screamed as he jumped into the group of monsters below, and with his scimitar slashed in and out between them and grabbing their attention in the process. He jumped back as one of the creatures lashed out towards him, he turned towards them with Zorro already out and ready. "Leave the bug eyed creep to me! Save Lady Ann!"

"You heard the cat Shirou!" The redhead turned towards Akira, and nodded. The two jumped down and ran through the trail of the destruction towards Kamoshida. Gilles caught sight of them and moved to intercept them, but his efforts were refuted as sharp winds forced him back. He turned his focus on the charging Morgana as he leaped and weaved through the aquatic monsters and tentacles attacking him.

Ann side stepped a blow from the riding crop, but the debris that blasted from the impact made her stumble and fall. Heavy breaths escaped her as she glared hatefully at the approaching Kamoshida who looked at her with a lustful gaze.

 **"I'm going to eat you up, you little slu—gragh!"** Once more Kamoshida was caught unaware as he flailed haplessly with all four arms to relief the pain from his now slashed sides and cursed face—courtesy of both Arsene and Mordred.

Shirou and Akira landed before the downed Ann, the dark trench coat thief twisting towards her. "Get out of here now! Regroup with Shiho and Ryuji in the safe room!"

"B-But I can—!" Ann started but was cut off.

 **"Aargh! You pieces of shit!"** Kamoshida glared hatefully at them as he screamed in frustration.

"Go!" Shirou shouted as he charged forward toward the recovering demon king, swords in hand and jumped up. He slashed at his face but was swatted away by kitchen knife in his foes hand and nearly crushed by the riding crop.

"Ann—!" Akira turned towards her with a serious look on his face, but stopped when he saw her resigned face. She nodded, got to her feet and looked at him with an encouraging smile.

"Good luck! And you two better make it out with us! Or I'll never forgive you!" Ann threatened as she turned around and ran, albeit with some difficulty, towards where the safe room was.

"Understood! Arsene, let's go!" Akira ran forward, jumping up and pulling out his gun. "You need to learn proper etiquette!"

 **"Wha—!?"** Kamoshida grunted and turned around rapidly just in time to get his face blasted with the firepower of Joker's handgun. **"Grah!"**

Akira landed swiftly beside Shirou, giving a silent nod, and sharply turned towards the furious king as he lunged towards them with enraged abandon. The two thieves jumped back, avoiding the charge and lunged forward themselves as the king tried to quickly get back on his feet but got slashed in his chest by the swords of Shirou and stabbed on the thigh and shot at his kneecaps by Akira. The king roared and used the hand holding the fork to stab them, but to no avail as they jumped away and continued with their assault.

Little by little, wearing him down with injuries.

"We can do this!" Shirou exclaim in surprise as Kamoshida flail uncontrollably to hit them.

"Hell yeah!" Akira crowed with a grin. The king screamed and glare at them hatefully.

**"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Slaves! Slaves! Get to work! Kill them!"**

"Slaves…?" Shirou asked with disgust. "You're still on tha—!?"

He stopped as he noticed from the cracks and the dust of the destroyed battleground, stubby creatures with full metal helmets ran up towards the furious king and gather around as he sat down almost lazily and pointed at the thieves.

"Attack!"

At that the stubby creatures jumped up, with volleyballs appearing out of thin air and spiking them straight towards the two thieves. Their eyes went wide as the balls suddenly multiplied into dozens of balls.

"Oh cra—!" Akira grunted as he quickly brought his arms up to defend, while Shirou attempted to evade—the dark hair teen was hit multiple times, only being pushed slightly back as he received relatively little damage. The redhead on the other hand was not as lucky as his exhaustion caught up with him, causing him to fail his evasion and to receive a direct hit that blew him back. "Shirou!"

The redhead stumbled back and fell to his knees, a flash of pain on his face.

 **"Ghihihihihi! Idiots!"** Kamoshida guffawed as he looked at them with wide mocking eyes. **"Mere peasants like you can't possibly beat the king!"**

At his words the stubby creatures once more went on to the offensive, spiking volleyballs towards the two thieves. Reacting quickly, Akira turned tail, grabbed Shirou and threw themselves to cover where the dozens of volleyballs hit. The two teens winced as the rubble they were using as cover was slowly but surely getting chipped away.

"We need a plan…" Shirou said with a wince.

Akira looked over slightly and saw Morgana running away from Gilles, while evading attacks by his monsters. Shiho and Ryuji were no where to be seen and Ann was reaching the safe room. He flinched back as a volleyball nearly hit his face and he looked up.

He froze as he caught sight of something which gave him an idea.

"Shirou… how about the Shadows?"

"Huh…?"

The dark hair thief pointed up and Shirou followed the direction towards the ceiling, where a mass of tentacles were still holding the struggling and cursing Shadows. The redhead looked at the leader of the thieves and Akira nodded with heavy breaths.

"We're getting pushed back and we're getting tired. All we need is a distraction. If we can get those Shadows free…"

"Then we get our distraction…but how do we know those things will even help us?"

"We don't." Akira responded with a tired smirk. "We just take a leap of faith."

"Huh…" Shirou couldn't help it as a tired sigh escaped him. However, he also acknowledged Akira's idea, and looked up at the tentacles. He winced as a volleyball ricocheted off the rubble behind him and landed by his feet. "So, we both go and start releasing those Shadows and see if they help us out?"

"No, you go." Akira said confidently as he stared at the black helm on the redhead's face. He smiled at Shirou's confusion. "I know you're tired, but your swords seem to have a knack for cutting creepy stuff up. So you'll have to be the one to go in and free the Shadows… as strong and useful as Arsene has been, he doesn't exactly have it in him to actually cut those things apart like you or make them flinch like Shiho. Sorry, but…"

"Don't worry about, I understand." The redhead responded easily as he took a deep breath and started to focus. "Let's go."

"Humph…" Akira grinned smoothly at him and held out his right hand to him, gesturing for him to smack it. Shirou looked at him in confusion, tilting his head to the side.

"What are you doing?"

"It's something me and the others came up with when we got here today. Baton Pass, I tried it out with Tiger…er, Shiho. Somehow she got a pretty high boost in her next attack against a Shadow." The dark thief smirked sinisterly. "I just want to give you the boost and confidence you need, partner."

Shirou looked at the red gloved hand, waiting for him to smack his own hand against it and receive the boost Akira had mention. The redhead's lip went into a straight line…as he felt something deep within him.

_**A confidant of trust and opportunity was forming with Akira Kurusu** _ _**.** _

Shirou smiled as he smacked his hand against Akira's, instantly feeling a sudden fire providing him a much needed boost of strength to his tired body. He clenched his hand into a tight fist, staring at it and nodding in resolution. Whatever had occurred, he now knew that he could rely on Akira in this dangerous situation without fear of watching his back.

"Let's do this."

Akira grinned, pulled his gun and jumped out of his cover. He dived through the destroyed floor, narrowly missing the assaulting barrage of volleyballs as he rolled on the floor and before getting on his knees with both hands on the handgun. With a vicious grin he opened fire at Kamoshida's face—hitting him squarely on it.

 **"Guagh! AAAAHH!"** The king flailed with his four arms, glaring hatefully at Joker. He smacked his riding crop on the floor where the stubby creatures jumped in fright at the sound of impact. **"You damn good for nothing slaves! Get that stupid thief! Can't you morons see that your king is in pain!?"**

The slaves all diverted their attention towards the now retreating Akira, as a renewed barrage of volleyball was sent his way. Shirou watched him duck and weave between the assault and nodded.

"Good luck…"

The redhead turned away from the diversion, sneaking through the rubble to avoid the gaze of the pink demon king. Thankfully Kamoshida was far too engrossed on Akira. This allowed Shirou to make it to the wall away from the action. He looked up and saw the rubble that would let him climb up and reach the tentacles which slithered through the air in search of new prey.

Who was he to deny them?

Shirou jumped using the rubble as a platofrm and landed on the tentacles. The action earned a startled reaction from them as they quickly move to ensnare him. Unfortunately for them, Shirou moved quickly, hopping between them before finally reaching the ceiling and where he landed on a thick tentacle. The limb tired to shake him off, but he kept his balance. Looking up, he saw a small fairy lady that was grasped tightly, with only her head free as she try to struggle her way to freedom.

The small pixie noticed as her eyes widened wit desperation. "Hey you! Help me!"

Shirou frowned, knowing he had to act fast. "Will you help us?"

"Duh idiot!" Shirou could not help but notice that the pixie's speech pattern was somewhat similar to the last one he spoke with. "That Kamoshida guy totally betrayed all of us for that creepy bug-eyed guy! You see how disgusting all of this tentacles are!?"

The redhead could not help but nod in understanding. With quick and a few well placed slices he freed her, jumping away onto another tentacle and turning towards the now free pixie as she looked herself over to make sure she was ok. "There you go, now help us fight Kamoshida."

"Okay!" The fairy said with cheery enthusiasm as she held her arms towards him. The redhead looked at her in confusion, before he felt a strange sensation all over his body. He looked down and saw most of his injuries were gone. He stared at the small lady in amazement and she gave him peace sign. "I can totally heal you! But that's kind of the only thing I can do in this situation… if you want more muscle and all that stuff, you'll need the others!"

The fairy gestured towards the other captured Shadows. Shirou stared at them—some having noticed his action and were also motioning for him to help them—all the while he observed the scene with stoic calmness.

But inside… he was smiling as he imagined what was to come for Kamoshida.

Meanwhile, Akira was running for his life. He jumped to his left just as another barrage of volleyballs came his way. He glared back, cursing his gun's limited amount of ammo. In no time, he had completley wasted them without noticing. He tensed as he caught sight of movement from the corner of his eye and could faintly make out a long purple tongue heading straight for him. He ripped his mask off and summoning forth Arsene who in quick succession delivered a powerful kick towards the thick tongue—

"Gragh—!" The dark thief grunted as his Persona was pushed back and smashed into him with powerful force. The collision made the wind escape from his lungs as he sailed backwards. His back collided harshly with the floor scraping and dragging through the debris that had been thrown about carelessly in the midst of their fight. He winced as he slid across the surface and coming to a stop just a hair's breadth away from crashing headfirst into a huge piece of debris from the collapsed wall. "D-Damn it…not like this…"

Akira tried to get up, barely managing to get into a sitting position before he was pummeled by dozens of volleyballs. He grunted in pain as each ball hit him with the force of a punch from a fully grown and expert boxer. Once the assault concluded, he rolled onto his stomach and with great difficulty, tried to get up on all fours and twisted his body to glare at the laughing king.

 **"Gahaha! And the shitty wannabe-thief falls!"** Kamoshida lumbered forward, his disproportional small legs carrying him as he guffawed loudly, his long tongue swaying all over the place. Akira found the sight incredibly disgusting. **"At least, I'll finally get rid of one of you brats! Do you have any idea of how much trouble you've caused in MY school!? MY school is a place for winners! Not something losers and disobedient kids should be meddling with!"**

A sneer appeared on Joker's face. "…do you ever shut up? You're voice is grating on my ears…"

Kamoshida glared down at him, growling with great petulance and pointing his fork at him. **"You good for nothing loser… you wanna die that quickly? Then die already you son of a—AAAAAARGHH FUCK!"**

The pink demon king roared in pain as the fury of the heavens dropped down on him from above. For Akira, he looked up in time to see the show as multiple forms descended down on the lustful king could. In that moment, he could not help but watch in awe—

It was nothing short of karmic beauty.

Lighting struck—

Fire burned—

Winds cut—

Ice froze—

Divine judgement descended—

And then the spear filled with vengeful fury from a Shadow in the form of a knight forced the mad king down to the floor.

A veil of debris and anger swept through the room, Kamoshida's screeching tore through the Phantom Thief's ears.

Following shortly after their assault, were the now liberated Shadows. Dozens of them stood around their former king. All of whom varied in terms of size and appearance, as well as legend and mythology, and in power and strength.

However, on thing that they all seemed to share, was their mutual hatred for their former master.

"King Kamoshida!" The horseman Shadow bellowed as he took the lead. "You will pay for what you have done! Betraying we who have sworn loyalty to you!"

An angelic knight with a severe expression glared at him with his unnatural gaze. "The corruption of thy heart as been noted. Thou hast chosen to allow the force of a blasphemous outsider to corrupt thou heart. Let the Lord's light vanquish thy sins!"

The other Shadows, a woman in skin tights and bat wings leaned forward with a dangerous smirk, a long nose demon with the same wings mirrored her actions with a vicious grin. Another woman in red silk, a green horse, small creature peaking out of its pot with a childlike glare, a jack'o lantern waving its lantern menacingly and many others got ready to fight their former king.

**"Y-You…you ingrates!"**

"Charge!"

Whoever screamed that command, it did not matter much. What did matter was the ensuing chaos that was brewed in a matter of seconds following the order as explosions and screams filled the room.

Akira looked at Shirou who now stood up and turned slightly towards him. "Shirou you—!"

"Hey!" The thief turned toward the small pixie hovered towards him with her hands raised towards him.

"Huh…hey—!? Wait!" Akira flinched back as his body glowed green and he was healed from all of his injuries. "I'm healed?"

"Well duh!" The pixie pursed her lips at him. "How else do you think you're getting away from this castle?"

Akira turned towards Shirou, giving him his signature vicious grin. "Heh…hehehehe! You really outdid yourself man, really, this is great…"

The redhead just gave him a tired smile and nodded. "It's the least I can do for everything you've been doing in the past few days."

"I think you went above and beyond to repay whatever favor you thought you had to pay back…because this is great." He turned towards Kamoshida as he was being pushed back. "All we have to do now is get to the safe room and—!"

"NYAAAAAAARGH!"

Both teenager's eyes widened at the familiar feline voice and turned around just in time to see Morgana flying and then crashing straight into the horseman who was moments away from delivering a powerful attack towards a kneeling Kamoshida. The cat and the Shadow both fell to the floor, and putting a stop to the Shadow's attack. This was more than enough time for the downed Kamshida to recover and to counter attack with his long tongue. Some of the Shadows reacted in time, ducking or flying above the offending appendage. Unfortunately, not all of the shadows were lucky enough to escape.

The Shadows that were hit by Kamoshida's attack were sent flying in multiple directions. Some of them went crashing into what remained of the walls and pieces of debris, but survived albeit with some disorientation. On the other hand, the other Shadows ended up exploding back into the red and black substance, having reached their limits as they ceased to exist.

The Shadows who dodged looked at their fallen comrades with ire, turning towards the angry king to resume their attack…but before they had the chance, more of Gilles monsters and their tentacles burst from the ground underneath them. Their limbs moving and spinning around in a chaotic manner, completely blindsiding every Shadow there and sending them flying.

Morgana had gotten to all fours with difficulty, his face set into a grimace of pain, barely having time to react as a tentacle strike him and the horse man beside him. The impact behind the blow was enough to send them flying towards Shirou, Akira and the small pixie, where they landed with a rough thud.

"Mona!" Akira went towards the downed cat and rolled him over to his back. The cat looked at him, struggling to open his eyes due to the pain he was in.

"D-Damn it… that creep is… way too persistent…"

Shirou looked up and frowned as he saw Gilles de Rais, walking towards the hulking Kamoshida's side with only a few minor cuts on his body. Akira clicked his tongue at the sight, touching his mask and feeling it ready to burn away.

"You think you can heal yourself Mona?"

"N-No…wasted…everything I…had…" Both teenagers winced at the pain in the cat's voice. A growl made them turn toward Kamoshida.

 **"You…you stupid losers! I'll…I'll definitely kill you! I'll kill you all for this! Slaves! SLAVES!"** Kamoshida screeched as he smacked his riding crop around erratically. **"Give me by ball! I'll spike this worthless pieces of shit down to fucking pieces!"**

"OOOOooo Master…" Gilles looked up as the king breathed erratically, snapping his gaze down at him. "You're fury…you would end up destroying everything…"

**"I don't give a shit! I want them gone! Where's my volleyball you fucks!? FETCH MY BALL YOU DAMN SLAVES!"**

"Damn it!" Akira cursed, losing his cool as he removed his mask and letting Arsene appear once more. The Persona quickly sliced the floor with his blade heels sending rubble flying and creating a small fortification for themselves. A mound of debris stood between them and the king and the mad Caster. "We'll have to defend Mona! Shirou do you have enough strength in you to fight?"

Shirou looked down at himself and let out a tired breath. "I think… I think I have enough to make another pair…"

"It'll have to do…we'll have to defend and moved towards the safe roo—!"

"Hey!" Both teenagers turned towards the small pixie as she pointed at Akira. "You're totally different from red over here!"

"Huh…?" Akira raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah!" The pixie nodded enthusiastically. "I can… I can feel it…it's as if I've known you all my life or something… yeah… you're really someone who can bring out my full potential!"

"Potential…?"

"What is she…?" Morgana trailed off as he watched with awe as the small fairy began shining with a bright blue light. Beside him the horseman got to his feet, his horse neighing loudly while shaking its head.

"So this is that feeling…" The horseman's words made the thieves turn towards him, as it stared intently at Akira.

"Hey! I remember now! I'm not just a Shadow from this castle! I really don't care about being betrayed or whatever by Kamoshida!" The pixie said happily. "I came from the sea of humanity's soul…so, I am thou, thou art I…"

Morgana's eyes went wide. "No way!"

"The name's Pixie!" The fairy introduced herself. "Remember it and let's work together!"

"Wh—!?" Akira's question of disbelief from the situation was cut off as Pixie transformed into a mask identical to his. Hovering in the air for a few seconds, it moved forward and smashed itself into his face, once more forcing his face to be obscured by the owl-shaped mask. The action forced Arsene to flinch slightly before disappearing.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" Shirou questioned in concerned.

"I…" Akira touched the mask on his face and before his eyes widened with disbelief as he felt another presence deep within him aside from Arsene. "What is this…?"

Morgana managed to get back to his feet, gazing at Akira with amazement. "That's impossible… did you just absorb that shadow!?"

"Yes." The horseman responded, grabbing their attention. "For whatever reason… your presence somewhat draws me towards you… whatever power or strength in character that you possess, I feel compelled to fight alongside you… as your mask."

"As my mask…?"

Morgana gasped and turned towards Akira. "You can use multiple Personas…"

Shirou blinked in amazement. "Really…? Then that's good right?"

Akira closed his eyes, feeling the new possibilities burning within him. Smirking to himself, he began drawing out the latent potential within him.

"Pixie." Akira's mask burned away as the small fairy-like Shadow appeared behind him. He turned towards Morgana pointing a hand towards him. The cat looked at him in confusion before he felt his body heal and mend itself.

"Whoa!"

"You really did summon that Shadow…and used her powers!" The redhead gasped in awe. Akira looked back at Pixie in wonder. The horseman nodded, tightening his hold over the reins of the horse.

"Indeed, it is as I thought. You can use us as part of your mask. If that's the case, then let me share my power with you."

The thieves all turned towards him, Morgana frowning at the words. "Why? Kamoshida is this place's ruler…so why are you turning against him?"

The horseman sat a little straighter on his mount, looking straight at Akira as he answered. "Us Shadows understand that we do not simply belong to the heart of any single human, but the entirety of humanity. The moment the Ruler of this castle gave his Servant—the Heroic Spirit—more authority over this Palace, was the moment when the Ruler lost his hold over us. A Ruler who cannot control his own heart, cannot hope to control or even influence us. Since the Servant, an outsider who only belongs in the consciousness of humanity—but not in their subconscious, not in their hearts, is attacking indiscriminately and without care as to who stands in his way. We Shadows have chosen to stand against the king. So what say you thief? Will you let me share my strength—or are you confident enough to take on the maddened king with a nothing but a pixie?"

Akira looked at the Shadow, closing his eyes... all while grinning maliciously. "Let's get this show on the road then."

The horseman offered Akira his armored hand, which the dark-haired teen tentatively took within his own hand. He let out a yelp of surprise as he was pulled up and forced to sit on the horse right behind the spear wielding knight. The thieves watched Akira as he tried to keep his balance and—

**"About damn time you worthless slaves!"**

All four looked up from the rubble protecting them and saw the slaves skedaddling towards the towering king with a giant volleyball in their hands. It weighted down on them, and yet they moved to obey their king unlike the rebellious Shadows. Kamoshida smirked at the sight, taking a sip from his wine cup with greedy and messy slurps. Once finished, his body flashed red and the king crushed the cup.

"He is preparing to finish this." The horseman said as he watched the scene. "I will lend you my power, but first we must cut the distance between him and us. Once done I'll gladly become your mask. Ready?"

Akira watched with narrowed eyes as Kamoshida threw away everything in his hands to grab the ball.

"He needs a proper culling of his inflated ego. Let's go!"

"Then hold on!"

With that the two rush forward, leaving Shirou and Morgana behind. The cat turned towards Shirou.

"Let's do our part too! Joker will be busy with Kamoshida, so let's make sure the creep doesn't butt in."

"I can agree with that." Shirou nodded as they both jumped into action, going around to ambush their target.

Akira meanwhile held onto the horseman as they closed the distance. The horse darted from left to right, zigzagging past monsters and tentacles dropping in to stop them. Fortunately, the Shadow demonstrated his resourcefulness as they got in close. Kamoshida noticed them and grinned.

 **"Too late! Now you'll see—!"** Kamoshida gloated as he jumped high, ball rolling up as the king pulled his right arm back in an exaggerating fashion to smack it down.

"Now!" The Shadow roared as the horse galloped with furious steps, stepping onto the floor with enough power to crack it. With a powerful jump, the two flew straight towards the king. All Shadows trapped, disoriented or cowardly hiding from their loss of rebellious will watched as the two sailed forward. "It is time for us to work together! I am thou, thou art I! My name is—!?"

The horseman disappeared in a flash of blue light and turning into a mask. Without the horseman's mount, Akira was left spinning uncontrollably through the air. The mask hovered in the air for a second, before it shot forward towards his face. It slammed down on him and he grinned as he regained control of his body in midair.

 **"—the spike that shook—!"** Kamoshida brought his arm down preparing to strike the ball with tremendous power and—

"BERITH!" Akira ripped the mask off his face, revealing the Shadow-turned-Persona charging forward at lightning speeds. Berith lunged forward, thrusting his spear forward and aiming it at the demon king's leg. The weapon collided and the image of a mouth with fangs appeared on Kamoshida's left leg up to is knee.

 **"Gragh—!?"** The king let out a strangled cry, flinching violently as he tripped in midair. Unable to stop himself, Kamoshida started falling forward and ended up hitting the volleyball with his inhuman face—

"—!" Akira's grunt of surprise was unheard as the room lit up by the resulting explosion. The volleyball the Demon King Kamoshida was preparing to spike blew up right as he touched the ball.

The shockwave pushed Akira back with a streak of blue fire following him as his mask returned. Meanwhile, the explosion expanded into a ball of fire, hanging in the air, like a sun. Kamoshida's silhouette could be seen from within the epicenter of the explosion as his screams carried out through a series of shockwaves. Akira sailed backward, clenching his teeth as the explosion knocked the wind out of his lungs. He looked back towards the fast approaching wall and his eyes widened in surprise. He needed to stop getting hurt, so he did what he did best—he focused.

In a swift, yet fluid motion, he ripped his mask off and once more called forth Arsene. The gentleman thief followed after him with ease and with a flicker of his hands, swatted his legs upward. The action made him spin in midair, but he quickly tightened himself into a ball to control his own speed. He then landed against the wall he was about to crash in with a swift heroic landing. It hurt his knees, but he didn't complain as he looked up— his mask returning once more—as the explosion released a burst of smoke and fire with Kamoshida crashing down on the floor.

Beside the collpsed king was Gilles who watched the entire event with his eyes bulging out even further with surprise, not expecting the king to be trounced so swiftly. Smoke, dust and debris flew at him, yet he did not flinch in the slightest. He moved forward, ready to use the tentacles to help his master.

"AAAHHH! My Master! Yo—!" His words went unheard as from out of the cloud of dust to his left, both Shirou and Morgana flew out of the cloud heading straight at him. Both fighters drew their respective blades as they prepared to go on the offensive. The mad Caster barely had time to react as he jumped back to avoid a spinning slash from the cat who hissed when he missed. The redhead landed beside the feline thief with both blades by his side glaring at his enemy. He lunged towards Gilles who raised his book, causing dozens of tentacles to burst to life from the ground up.

However, before any of them could so much as attack, Shirou had already made his move—slashing and cutting his way towards the deranged Caster without any rational concern for himself. Gilles took a step back as he realized just how fast the redhead was closing the distance between them. Raising his arms, a new swarm of tentacles came flying towards him and wrapped onto his torso and arms, pulling him back in hasty retreat just as Shirou swung his blades at him.

Out of frustration and desperation, the redhead released both swords as he brought them up and threw them towards his target with a force similar to a raging storm. He hoped with every fiber of his being that they would at least hit Caster…

Unfortunately for him, his prayers went unanswered as Gilles's tentacles swerved him to the left with a harsh pull. Both Kanshou and Bakuya, having missed their target, disappeared through the cloud of smoke. Gritting his teeth, he re-summoned his blades, while Morgana hopped to his side and looked at him.

"Shirou!"

"Last pair…"

The cat clicked his tongue and glared at the retreating Caster. "Then make them count! Let's go!"

As they went after the madman, Akira fell from the wall and landed on all fours. Looking up, he glared at the smoking crater where Kamoshida had landed. He got to his feet and tensed up, clenching and unclenching his hands as he felt his body was all strung up.

He knew that out of his entire group, he was the one who was the least exhausted. The others had used up too much of their magical abilities and exhausted their own resources, exempting Shirou and Ryuji, but even those two were at their limits. The former was tired and hurt from all the fighting, while the latter was so badly injured from his earlier fall that he could barely walk. He glared forward as he took a deep breath.

He understood that it was all up to him to defeat Kamoshida now.

"—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHH!" The loud screech reverberated throughout the room, dispersing the smoke and debris to reveal the injured and shivering form of the pink demon king, whose body was now severely burnt and injured. Blood oozed lightly from the sizzling skin, along with several other injuries like his missing lower right arm, his missing fingers from the other hands, as well as his shredded tongue that now hung limply down on the floor. Compared to before, Kamoshida looked down right pathetic.

"…humph, what a fitting look for a scummy loser like you, huh?" Akira asked mockingly. His words reached the shivering king's bloodied and torn ears. The moment they reached him, he stopped his whimpering of pain and forced himself to look up with wide bloodshot eyes.

 **"…y-you…! YOU! Damn brat! HOW DARE YOU! NO! NO! NO! I'm not allowing this—GRAAAAAAAAGH!"** Kamoshida threw a temper tantrum, flailing his limbs erratically, before screaming even more loudly. Saliva spewed from his gaping maw screaming his head off, not caring in the slightest how much he had degraded himself to such a state.

"Bring it on then." Akira stated with smirk as he ran towards him in an attempt to cut the distance between them once more and end this battle. Kamoshida let himself fall forward, letting his remaining three arms keep him from falling. He drew his left arms back and swiped them against the floor, destroying it and sending a wall of rubble and boulders from the destroyed surface towards the young thief at frightening speeds.

Akira, surprised by how much strength Kamoshida had left, threw himself to the left, avoiding certain death as the wave of rubble destroyed everything in its path. The thief rolled across the destroyed floor, looking up just in time to see Kamoshida do the exact same thing and sent another wall of death towards him. Akira could not help but curse his situation, as he lunged to the left once more. He managed to evade the wave of deadly rubble, but…

His shoulder still crashed against a pile of rubble resulting from Kamoshida's last attack. His eyes widened as he looked back at Kamoshida who once more swung his large arms to send rubble his way. He quickly moved his hand, preparing to have one of his Personas take the brunt of the attack, but—

"Me not let it happen!"

A powerful blast of wind collided against the incoming rubble, dispersing it and pelting both tentacles and monsters in proximity. Kamoshida flinched and looked up in disbelief. Akira's eyes widened with surprise, letting his hand fall from his mask as he noted a green horse descend down from the rubble that blocked his path. He more heard footsteps and looked back to see that every Shadow that had been dispersed by Kamoshida was back on their feet and looking at him.

Out of the crowd of Shadows, an armored angel looked at him with a severe expression, while his hand was on his blade. "Thou hast shown thy will and thy power. I ask of thee, are thou willing to continue? To end this sacrilege?"

Akira just stared at the angel, looked away and clicked his tongue in disbelief at the question. "Of course I am…there's no way I'll let someone like him keep terrorizing innocent people."

"Then thou hast our support. Art I correct?" The armored angel asked at the surrounding Shadows, which all whooped in agreement.

"Let's go!"

"Let's show that asshole what's up!"

"I'll help you out dude!"

"Me blast him away!"

Akira smirked and swung his right arm dramatically, letting his dark cloak flutter behind him.

"Then let's get this show on the road!"

With his piece said, Akira took off once more towards Kamoshida. Kamoshida noticed his approaching form and growled, quickly swatting his arm on the floor to send another wave of rubble towards the thief.

Behind said thief, the green horse glowed blue.

"Me am thou, thou art me, me name is—?"

The horse turned into Akira's mask and slammed onto his face when he turned to look back. The thief smirked, as he twisted around dramatically to face the rubble and ripped his mask off.

"KELPIE!"

As the new Persona appeared neighing loudly and releasing a powerful gust of wind towards the incoming rubble. The debris stopped by the strong opposition of Kelpie's wind, which quickly overpowered the rubble and sent it flying back towards the now shocked Kamoshida.

 **"Shi—!"** He didn't even get to finish as a large chunk of rubble slammed into his face, followed by the rest as they pummeled him down to the floor. His cries and screams of pain being music to Akira's ears.

A woman with a silky red dress flew beside him. "I am thou, thou art I. Dear, my name is—?"

The mask was slammed into Akira's face as he jumped, rolling midair for dramatic flair as he ripped the mask off—

"SILKY!"

Ice was released on top of the prone king who moaned in pain—but as the ice began to freeze his burnt body, a scream tore out of his mouth. Kamoshida attempted to flail about, but the ice froze his limbs in place. Kamoshida looked up in fear at the airborne thief.

Akira just smirked viciously at the downed king and behind him another Shadow spoke.

"Ho! I am thou, ho! Thou art I! What's my name ho—!?"

His mask slammed into his face, before he promptly ripped it off once more.

"Jack-o-Lantern!"

Fire was released and enveloped the still frozen in place Kamoshida. Kamoshida howled, as more burns appeared over his exposed flesh—though he did sigh in relief as the melted ice cooled his burning body.

"I am thou, thou art I! My name is—?"

"AGATHION!"

Kamoshida once more howled, his earlier relief changing quickly into torment as h felt himself get electrocuted as lighting struck the drenched king. Screaming and flailing, he slowly got to his feet in desperation. His body was twitching and his limbs failed to respond as he writhed in pure agony. Still he glared with pure hatred at the thief as he landed swiftly down on the floor, a mocking grin on his face.

 **"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"** Kamoshida yelled in fury as he lunged forward, intending to crush the thief with his body and—!

"I am thou, thou art I… my name is what—?"

"SUCUBUS!"

While in mid-charge, Kamoshida was shot by a burst of pink energy to his head. Without warning his vision grew fuzzy and his desire to crush the thief disappeared. Instead, he felt the need to ram his skull against a wall as fast and as hard as possible.

So he did just that as he changed direction and violently exacerbating his injuries and running full speed towards a wall. Upon his collision, the wall collapsed on him, causing howls of pains to echo around the room as he was buried under the rubble.

Akira grinned at this and walked towards the king while fixing his gloves. "Let's end this."

"Me am thou, thou art I, me am—?"

"BICORN!"

Kamoshida cried out in pain as the Persona lunged at him and crashed through the rubble, injuring Kamoshida even further.

"I am thou, thou art I! I am what—!?"

"Andras!"

Kamoshida brought his arms up to shield his injured body from being pelted with ice shards—his screams ringing loudly with each shard that managed to pierce his body.

"I am thou—!"

"Incubus!"

Kamoshida suddenly felt deathly afraid, a horrified scream escaped his gaping maw as the spell from the thief's new Persona took hold.

"—thou art I!"

"Eligor!"

The screeching king was snapped out of his fear induced spell when the large horned knight rode forward with his horse, and then crashed into him like a speeding freight train.

"—! I art called—!?"

"ARCHANGEL!"

Akira bellowed with a vicious grin as he twisted dramatically while pointing his left hand forward, causing the new Persona to unleashed a furious and powerful barrage of divine light upon Kamoshida. The attack burned him, his sinful and lustful acts only intensifying the pain of the howling PE teacher. Akira watched as Kamoshida slumped forward, breathing heavily and looking up to glare at defiant thief.

Akira only responded with a mocking glare behind his mask and a flippant smirk.

"And now…for the finale of tonight's performance!"

Spinning around with dramatic flair again, he grabbed his owl-shape mask with both hands and ripped it off. The mask burned away into blue fire which encircled the dark thief and formed Arsene once more. Materializing above the teenager and with both arms spread wide in a mocking gesture, the demonic looking Persona grinned maliciously at his target as dark energy started to gather within the palms of his clawed hands.

Akira pointed at Kamoshida with his right hand, letting the smug smirk drop off as he glared with severity at the perverted teacher.

"Begone."

Arsene pulled both hands back and then threw them forward, unleashing a tidal wave of dark curses upon Kamoshida. The king's eyes went wide as all he could do was stare at the incoming attack with dread—a cry of fear escaped him as the attack reached him, resulting in an explosion of darkness that towered over the room and completely swallowed the king. Akira stood by as he watched the defeat of the Palace ruler with a passive expression just as his mask returned once more to his face.

Once the dark tower of Curses finally dissipated it revealed the defeated Kamoshida—laying face first, knocked out and with crippling injuries. Akira watched him and let out a sigh as a small smirk stretched across his lips as he adjusted his gloves.

Meanwhile, away from the defeated king and triumphant thief, the chase for the retreating Caster raged on. Shirou and Morgana sprinted forward, eyes focused and glaring with intensity as they jumped over and slid below the lashing tentacles attempting to stop their movements.

"We can't let him get away!" Morgana cried out.

"I know!" The redhead responded as he dodged another stray tentacle.

"If he gets away and has time to think! We're done for!"

"I. KNOW!" Shirou bellowed out with power as three monster manifested out of thin air and attempted to swallow him. They were cut down in one fierce flurry of slashes but the action made him lag. His furry companion moved forward but noticed a monster coming right for him.

Morgana jumped to his right, avoiding a creature that was just inches away from swallowing him whole, while Shirou got caught up as a wave of tentacles went for him—the cat looked at Gilles, wrapped in tentacles and being pulled back with the human skin book still in his hand. Hissing in frustration he lunged towards the frustrating enemy, abandoning all caution as he delivered a powerful downward slash towards Gilles. Caster's tentacles veered right, avoiding the attack and pulling him away from the growling cat—

However, it just so happened this action only served to put him right on Shirou's path.

The redhead, now free from the obstacle that had opposed him, charged forward like a bullet and swung his blade with all his might just as the madman was turning to get away from the feline cat. The blade, Kanshou, severed the limbs holding onto Gilles left arm—the action cause the madman to let out a surprise gasp and stumble, nearly dropping his book on the process. As the tight hold of the tentacles disappeared Gilles was left disoriented.

The other two tentacles holding onto his right arm and torso tried to balance him out and attempted to pull back faster, but—

"No. You. Don't!" Shirou cried out as he recovered from his successful attack. He quickly rolled on the floor to right himself, before jumping high to throw Bakuya at the madman. The white blade spun through the air like a maelstrom of precision and power and finally sliced off the tentacle holding Gilles' torso.

"Gh—!" Gilles grunted, as the now cut limb dropped down on the floor lifeless. He was now only being held by his right arm. He could feel the force pulling on the remaining limb, giving the feeling as if his right shoulder was about to be ripped off. All the while, Gilles could do nothing but look onward as the two thieves ran straight at him.

"We got him now!" Morgana bellowed out with a greedy voice, tasting victory with each step they took.

Shirou ran full speed, unconsciously moving his empty hand up and catching the now returning Bakuya. Too busy to notice his impressive feat, he continued to move onward. "You're not getting away!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!" Gilles let out scream fitting for a monster like him, and pointed his blasphemous book towards them. A sea of tentacles burst out from around him and heading straight for the thieves. Their eyes went wide as everything before them, including their elusive target, disappeared from their vision.

"Dodge!" Morgana cried, but it was an impossible task. No matter what they did, they couldn't afford to back off or move to the sides. This single moment was enough to once more prove just how dangerous Caster was. If given even a single inch of respite, they would lose.

So they forged on, ready to stake all of their remaining strength into overcoming the horde and—

"You're not getting away with this! Sforza!"

The two thieves barely had any time to look to their left as a rain of white spheres shot straight towards the river of tentacles. The writhing and numerous limbs either recoiled or were torn to shreds under the holy light, their blasphemous flesh too weak to resist the determination of the thieves savior.

"That's—!?" Morgana started, jumping over some of the remaining limbs. Shirou followed suit, looking off to see a familiar girl dressed in white, firmly looking at the two of them.

"Suzui…!"

Now that the swarm of limbs were destroyed or rendered too damage to move, a clearly visible Gilles looked towards them in shock. "W-What—!?"

"Burn him away Carmen!"

Gilles words remained trapped in his throat, as a tidal wave of fire illuminated him from behind. The madman barely had any time to look back before he was entirely consumed by the flames. The tentacle that was dragging him through the sea of fire withered and turned to ash. The fire gave away, revealing Caster in a painful and uncomfortable manner—his burnt clothes and skin scraping against the rubble.

The madman's fall finally ceased, on his back and with his body aching—he attempted to sit up. Looking towards his right, near the white clothed thief was Ann. The blonde haired girl glared at him spitefully and gestured for someone to do something.

Not even a second after she gestured—

"Blow that creep away! CAPTAIN KIDD!"

A shadow loomed behind him and he turned just in time to see the pirate Persona sailing straight at him. After slamming into the Caster with enough force to nearly crush all his bones, he was airborne once more, speeding straight for the fast approaching Morgana and Shirou.

"You're done for!" Morgana cried out as he and Shirou both jumped forward, ready to deliver the finishing blow. However—

"OOOOoo—!" Gilles bellowed out loudly, pushing the book upward with his still unbroken arm. The sacrilegious book glowed dark followed by the appearance of dozens of tentacles spun forward from it. Going in a spiraling manner, they erratically lashed out at anything close to them. There sudden emergence made the speeding thieves nearly skid to a stop as they were forced to dodge.

"Damn it! Is that all he does!?" Shirou growled in frustration as he leaned back and avoided losing his head. "This guy is—!"

"ZORRO!" Morgana's cry made Shirou turned towards him just in time for his arm to be grabbed by the meaty hands of the gentlemanly Persona. The Persona rushed forward, using his huge shoulders to take the brunt of the lashings from the limbs. Planting a foot down, he began spinning around gathering momentum and then launching a surprised Shirou over the tentacles and behind the Caster. "GET HIM!"

The redhead, disoriented from the wild ride heard the voice and looked at Morgana, glaring at him and growling as he was forced to jump back to avoid the attacks from the tentacles. Now over an unsuspecting and kneeling Gilles, Shirou landed uncomfortably on the floor, but held back the pain. He rushed forward with loud and powerful intent.

Gilles heard the crashing footsteps, and despite the pain he was in turned around to identify the source. His bulging eyes nearly popped out of his head as he hurriedly moved his book to shield himself, making all of the tentacles pull back and coil around him as a makeshift shield.

Shirou growled in frustration.

_'I'm not going to reach him! I'm already past my limit and—!'_

His thoughts were interrupted as he caught sight of something.

As the tentacles coiled to protect their mad master…Shirou saw it…

Black and white.

Yin and Yang.

Kanshou and Bakuya.

Everything slowed down for him as he saw them…the two blades he had thrown earlier were returning to him. Still spinning with the same intensity and frustration he had felt earlier in order to finish this battle.

They were still fighting.

Still coming back…

Together.

In his head something whispered to him as he saw the swords.

Kanshou and Bakuya—the married pair blades, they will always find a way to reunite.

Shirou leaned forward and bared his teeth with fire in his heart at the understanding that came out of nowhere. He did not question it or think about it as he was focused on the task in front of him.

_'Who am I to deny them!'_

His determination burned even brighter as his vision of Gilles disappeared completely, yet he didn't stop his charge. He readied his blades for the final strike, glaring forward for the opportunity that was about to present itself.

Not even a moment passed and screams tore through the air, the screeches of a human monster and squelching sounds of metal tearing through flesh reached his ears. From behind his iron mask, Shirou's eyes zeroed in on Gilles as his shield of tentacles fell away—as the hand holding onto the book was nothing but a severed stump thanks to Bakuya, while Kanshou was firmly stabbed into Caster's sides.

Seeing his opportunity, Shirou took it…

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOGH!"

And he stabbed forward with all his might.

A shockwave from the mighty blow made all the dust and debris fly away. Both combatants were in the air, and moving through the impulse of Shirou's charge with the blades in his hands, he continued stabbing into Gilles's body and tearing more of it apart with each strike. Bakuya went through the madman's left thigh, while Kanshou broke and tore his right collarbone and shoulder blades. The madman looked at the redhead in utter shock, while Shirou only responded with a frustrated growl and pushed even further.

The swords cracked under the pressure, and Shirou's muscled arms bulged with power until—

An explosion went off as the blades shattered from the weight of the redhead's will to finish this. Gilles gasped in shock with his eyes open wide with pain as the destroyed blades pierced his body. His right shoulder was barely holding onto his body with nothing but the few threads of left over muscle tissue and clothing, while the now torn off left leg bounced violently against the floor.

Gilles de Rais was sent flying back, hitting rubble and anything in his path. A few seconds later, he passed an unsuspecting Akira, surprising him, and crashed violently beside the defeated king Kamoshida. The wall cracked and collapsed on top of the finally defeated Gilles.

Shirou skidded on the floor, stopping his own momentum and—just tripped and fell face first. His final attack sapping out all the energy from his body, he simply collapsed face first onto the floor. He was breathing heavily from his position, as much as he tried to look up, his body refused to obey his commands.

Taking large sums of airs for his greedy lungs, Shirou looked up and noticed that his vision had gone dark. Exhausted and finally out power to fuel his determination, his vision was blocked by his iron mask of rebellion. With a shaky right hand, he pulled the mask over his head and finally saw the destroyed room, the defeated Kamoshida and Gilles…and the approaching forms of his fellow thieves.

"Shirou!" Shiho cried out as she moved quickly, being careful with Ryuji who she helped move. Once they reached the fallen redhead, the blonde male patted her on the back and she let go to flip Shirou on his back. Ryuji stumbled slightly, almost falling but was stopped as an exhausted Ann appeared behind and balanced him out with her arm. The blonde fell down in a sitting position wincing slightly from the strain. He looked back at Ann and gave her a thumbs up.

He turned back towards Shirou who was being mothered by Shiho. "Dude! That was freaking awesome!"

Ann knelt beside Ryuji and let out a tired sigh escape her lips. She smiled as the redhead turned his head towards them.

"You really didn't like that guy, hmm Shirou-kun…"

"…humph…" Was his tired grunt as Shiho placed a hand on the back of his head and then layed him back down on her lap. The young man didn't even have the energy to blush in embarrassment at how affectionate the gesture was.

"Shirou…!" She said his name with a worried tone as a concerned frowned marred her face. "You stupid, stupid idiot! Why are you so reckless!?"

"I…" The redhead started as he looked at her face. A small groaned escaped him and he looked away. The sound of footsteps alerted the team of another presence and they look up just in time to see Akira walking towards them with a small smile.

"Hey! You did good."

Shirou let out a tired chuckle and just closed his eyes from the effort, he felt Shiho smooth out his hair. Ryuji leaned forward and swayed his arms in a grandiose manner.

"Yeah man! That was so cool! And you too dude! I mean, it was just so awesome how you were switching around between those shadow things and going in like a badass!"

Ann snorted and gave the dark haired thief a grateful look. "Yeah, you totally kicked that loser's ass. I just wished I was there helping you."

Akira nodded at her and gave her a small smile, he turned towards Ryuji as he moved to remove his mask again. "Pixie."

The small fairy appeared and gestured towards the fallen blonde boy, healing his bad leg. Ryuji looked down in wonder and got back on his feet.

"Whoa…holy shit man, you totally got me back on the game!" The blonde blinked and gave a wolfish grin. "So now that we totally kicked those two assholes faces in, how about we go and take that Treasure."

Shiho and Akira looked at the blonde, then back at each other before nodding. They looking back at Ryuji and nodding at him in confirmation. Ryuji opened his mouth to say something else—

"No, we aren't taking the treasure." Morgana's voice came from behind the two blonds, the two turned towards the feline thief as he waddle into the middle of the group. The attention set on him, he crossed his arms and looked right back at their confused eyes. "We simply just can't."

"What do you mean 'we just can't'!?" Ryuji's loud and abrasive question was something that Akira shared.

"Didn't we come here to take the treasure, Mona? Or where you lying?" Akira asked seriously, his stance becoming anxious. The rest of the thieves watched the cat shake his head and looked at them.

"I wasn't lying…I was just…withholding information…"

Shiho looked at him with a stern gaze. "That doesn't make it any better Mona. Holding out on information is just as bad as lying!"

Morgana's head drooped low at that and he let out a tired sigh as he looked up, meeting the thieves disapproving looks. "Look guys, I'm sorry…I really meant to tell you…well, Joker, Skull, and Tiger about how finding the Treasure isn't enough after we established our infiltration route to get in and out quickly. I would've told you after we did that, because the step necessary to actually steal the Treasure is pretty delicate, and someone even saying something back in the real world would screw everything up. That's why I kept quiet…"

"You didn't trust us…" Shiho murmured softly, making the cat swayed slightly in discomfort.

"What the hell man…!" Ryuji let out in disbelief.

"Oh what are you complaining about! You've been doubting me ever since the get go! So stop being so dramatic!" Morgana hissed angrily, crossing his arms. Silence fell between the group.

"So what now?" Akira questioned, his posture relaxed and his hands in his pockets as he looked at the feline thief. Morgana relaxed, looking back at Akira before he gestured towards the exhausted Ann and prone Shirou.

"We need to pull back. Those two have pushed past their own limit after awakening and having them strain themselves any further is way too dangerous. We'll return back to the real world and regroup." The cat looked up towards the cracked ceiling. "I can smell the Treasure nearby…its most likely right on top of us. So after we get our rest and figure out what to do next…we'll see if we take a gamble…"

"Gamble?" Ann repeated with a confuse look. "What do yo—!?"

**"Grrrhh…d-damn it…"**

All the thieves flinched at the voice, turning sharply to see Kamoshida shakily drag his massive body into a sitting position, he noticed the gawking thieves and glared hatefully at them. Shirou twisted his head to look at the snarling king, and clicked his tongue in apprehension.

"That guy…just doesn't stop…"

**"You damn brats…! How dare you…how dare you hurt me like this! I'm the king... the damn king! I'm NOT supposed to lose! I ALWAYS WIN! ALWAYS!"**

"Damn…what an annoying prick…" Ryuji grumbled, feeling miffed that the one person who had tormented him and was the bane of his existence was so pathetic. The others agreed silently as a concerned and guarded Shiho helped Shirou to his feet.

Kamoshida breathed heavily, drool and spit falling from his mouth as he finished his rant. He looked down at the knocked out Gilles and snarled.

 **"You useless son of a bitch! I knew I shouldn't have let you roam free… you couldn't even kill some idiot peasants you fuck! I should've…"** Kamoshida trailed off as his eyes zeroed in on the defeated Caster. **"Yeah…I should've done this shit a long time ago… if you want something done right, do it yourself. No need to rely on losers like you!"**

Kamoshida bellowed out furiously as one of his hands darted forward and grabbed the buried Caster. Rubble was moved as the unconscious Gilles was dragged out by the big and meaty hand of Kamoshida. He pulled Gilles towards his face as he glared at the Caster. The thieves watched in apprehension, their stomachs turning for the incoming gore as Kamoshida would crush Gilles with his hand for his failure and—

"Down you go, you worthless shit—!" The king mocked as he threw Gilles down his open mouth and swallowed him.

"What…?" Ann question in surprise at the scene. Before any of the other thieves could voice their own surprise, the ground started to shake.

"…t-t-the hell!" Ryuji grunted, nearly losing his balance.

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH~!"** A lengthy and disturbing moan escaped Kamoshida. His shredded and dead tongue coming back to life, swinging wildly as the king's eyes rolled to the back of his head. Beneath the demon, the floor erupted as hundreds of tentacles came forth. They wrapped themselves around Kamoshida's body, enrapturing him until there was a writhing and twitching mound of tentacles covering him completely like a cocoon.

"Why does he keep getting grosser and grosser by the minute…" Shiho ground out in distaste. The redhead turned towards her as she shook her head. "Seeing Kamoshida like this, makes me wanna puke after thinking about how close and how much he has touched us… it's disgusting."

"I know…" Ann trailed off with venom, her exhaustion lessening as her mask disappeared and Carmen appeared. Morgana looked at her and shook his head.

"Cut that out! You'll hurt yourself like that Lady Ann!" The cat's quick and loud hiss snapped the blonde girl out of her angered state and caused Carmen to return back to her. Surprised, the girl looked as Morgana frowned at the cocoon. "We need to leave… now."

"Mona…" Akira started, but the feline thief jumped up and landed harshly.

"No time we—!"

Morgana's words were drowned out as a large burst of dark and sick power erupted from the tentacles. The room turned purple as the torrent of dark power grew and from within the light, the darkened silhouette of a creature roared.

The thieves watched the twisted demon howl with power, and quickly stumbled to the side in surprise as a river of tentacles moved quickly towards the opened cocoon. Shirou winced as Shiho tried, to prevent him from nearly being run over. He focused his eyes on the tentacles and saw the dismembered hand of Gilles—still holding onto the human skin book. The tentacles holding onto the book reached the shadowed demon—and grew abruptly in size to fit the giant monster's left hand.

The dark energy gave out, dropping down like a deadly miasma of sacrilege and lust. Through the dark mist, two yellow eyes glared at the now frozen thieves.

Then—

**"RRRRAAAAAAHHH! I'll have you peasants howling my name!"**

Every surface surrounding the shadowed Kamoshida exploded, as anew swarm of tentacles rushing quickly towards the thieves.

"Shi—! MOVE!" Akira shouted, his control and cool façade giving away briefly to fear as death approached them. He was quite aware of the fact that he and the rest of his team were too tired to even fight anymore—so he turned around and rushed towards Shiho, helping her carry Shirou.

"To the safe room!" Morgana howled quickly as he to turned and ran for dear life. The rest of the thieves needed no more orders or warnings as they moved fast, ignoring any lingering feelings of pain or exhaustion as they ran. Akira had opted to carry Shirou on his back, deciding for it to be faster than dragging the tired redhead.

"Damn it! We ain't getting away from this!" Ryuji growled as they got closer to the safe room, but the tentacles were quickly closing in on them from behind. Ann winced as she put everything into her aching legs and ran.

"Just shut up and run!"

Ryuji bared his teeth, shook his head and grabbed his mask. "Screw this! Captain Kidd!"

The Captain appeared behind the running blonde, charging quickly as Ryuji jumped and landed on the bow of the ship. He quickly grabbed a surprised Ann and pulled her onto the ship. He turned to help the others, but Morgana and Shiho had already jumped to the side and held on. Shiho stretched her free hand when Akira ran beside the flying Persona and gave her Shirou, the redhead used the last of his strength to pull himself up, but Shiho held on tight. Akira now free from any burden, took out his own mask and jumped onto the back of the ship.

"Go Arsene!" The dark thief ordered as his persona quickly flew, surpassing the heavy ship in terms of speed and reaching the safe room's doors. With his talon claws, Arsene ripped the door open just in time for Captain Kidd to disappear and letting the thieves all stumble into the their destination with an undignified landing.

Groaning and in pain the thieves tried to get to their feet, as they all witnessed to the ocean of tentacles closing in. They froze, as the opened door was inviting in death. However, the approaching tsunami of tentacles disappeared from their sight as Arsene jumped into the room with the thieves and closed the door. The Persona let out an amused chuckle and disappeared in wisps of blue fire, returning back as Akira's mask.

As the mask was firmly put back onto Akira's face, the thieves each let out heavy breaths they didn't know they were holding onto.

"T-That was close…" A haggard Shirou let out, wincing as he righted himself—he froze as he felt something soft behind him. He looked back and saw a Shiho shaking her head, looking straight at him. She smiled wearily at him.

"Are you ok Shirou?"

He looked at her and let a small smile grace his lips. "Yeah…I am…"

Akira pulled out his phone, tapping the Metaverse Nav app and getting the synthesized female words to ask him for his next destination. He looked up. "Ready to head ou—!"

There was a loud thump, all the thieves turned sharply towards the door. They saw it vibrate as more and more crashing sounds began to invade their ears. Morgana's eyes went wide.

"This can't be happening! There's no way!"

"What's wrong!?" Ann asked the frantic cat as she flinched back, the door to the Safe Room cracking slightly with each crashing blow.

"There's no way anything from the Palace can affect the Safe Room! That's why it's a Safe Room! Because it's safe from the distortion that the Palace brings out!" Morgana screamed in apprehension, he round out towards Akira and pointed at him. "Use that thing to get us out of here Joker!"

The shout snapped the dark haired thief out of his stupor, shaking his head and quickly tapping on the interface of his phone he ground his teeth just in time to say—!

"Take us to the Palace entrance!" His words received an affirmative sound just as the Safe Room's door burst opened, letting in an entire flood of tentacles. The thieves all looked as the ocean of certain death approached them with fear in their eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" Their screams went as one, closing their eyes and flinching away as they were about to die. Their screams faded out as they clenched their teeth and raised their arms to protect themselves and closed their eyes so that they wouldn't have to see any more horrific scenes. Tensed and ready to scream and claw their way to survival they stayed put.

A few seconds passed and Shirou opened his eyes, looking frantically for answers as to why he wasn't dead or severely injured. His posture relaxed as he saw what was right in front of him—

"Those are… the buildings at the front of the school… right?" Shirou asked uncertainly, the other thieves looked up at the same time. Akira looked back and allowed a sigh to escape him.

"We made it out…" The others noted that they weren't in the Safe Room any more, instead, they stood in the entrance of the castle.

"Shit… man… this was way too much…" Ryuj sighed as he scratched the back of his head furiously. Morgana fell to the floor on all fours and groaned. Shiho looked up at the castle, a look of disgust adorning her face.

"What…how can such a disturbing place like that become even more creepy…" The thieves stared at the castle, now sporting a new look.

The lavish and pretentious castle had disappeared completely, instead it was now replaced by dark swirling tentacles. Hundreds of thousands of limbs covered the castle walls, pouring from down below and through the castle's windows. The tentacles moved about, encroaching even more of the castle and not letting anything escape their grasp.

"Creepy son of a bitch…" Ryuji growled out with distaste. Morgana looked at them and gestured towards the exit of Palace.

"Let's go guys… we really need to pull back."

The teenagers nodded, and moved out—eager to put the disturbing events behind them and get some much needed respite.

.

.

.

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* * *

_4/15 Afternoon, Afterschool_

Five teenagers plus one cat breathed harshly in the alleyway that lead to the school gates. Shirou got to his feet, exhaustion riddling his body—but he still managed to stand upright regardless of his current condition. He looked at the other thieves, who had also returned to their normal attire.

"Did we make it?"

Morgana looked around and nodded. "Yeah… we did it…"

The rest of team got to their feet, breathing hard. They all looked around and relaxed. Ryuji slump forward, a winced on his face as he rubbed his hurt leg.

"What the hell happened…? Why did things get so freaking creepy?"

The cat looked at him with a glare. "Because you opened your big mouth and made Kamoshida angry!"

"What!? How's that any of my fault!?"

"Because you started taunting the Ruler way to early on! You were asking for the entire operation to go south! I mean, didn't I warn you about what happens if the Palace Ruler becomes too aware of our presence!?"

"Yes, you did." Shiho cut in before Ryuji could respond, the girl's brown eyes settled on a glare towards the cat who quickly backed down at the look. "But you have been feeding us incomplete information! How are we supposed to do anything right if we don't even know we're doing something wrong! You need to stop with all this dramatic thing of withholding information! Our lives are on the line in that place!"

Morgana slightly curled himself down to a ball at the tirade. "I'm sorry okay… I just didn't think things were going to get that bad…"

Ann scratched the back of her head, feeling a little conscious and happy at the return of her fiery and brutally honest friend. "So now what? We can't go back in there and stop Kamoshida?"

Everyone fell silent at the blonde girl's words. Akira's right hand went for his hair and started twirling it.

"Morgana, do you know of any of this?"

The cat shook his head, and gave them a serious look. "This is something that has never happened before. Whatever Servants are, they don't belong in Palaces. And since my expertise is with the knowledge of things inside of the Metaverse, I don't know anything of what a Servant does or will do! The only thing that I do know is that they can have a lot of authority! But that's it!"

"What!?" Ryuji ground out. "Seriously man! Your useless!"

"Hey!"

"Enough…" Akira's exasperated words got the cat and the blonde to settle down as he looked at them with tired eyes. "How about we talk about this tomorrow. We're not going to figure anything out about Servants or whatever it was that happened when we're all so tired. Especially after Takamaki and Emiya awakened to—Emiya?"

Everyone turned towards the redhead, who had a hundred-yards stared in his eyes. Shiho turned sharply towards Ann, seeing that she was okay and then looked at Morgana.

"What's wrong with him!? Is this a side a effect from awakening to his Persona?"

"No… at least it shouldn't be. The most he should be feeling is exhaustion…n ot this…"

"Hey! Man!" Ryuji walked forward snapped his fingers in front of the redhead's face, snapping him out of his stupor. "You okay?"

"I… I think I know how to find information about Servants…"

The group looked at him in shock.

"Seriously!? How would you know!?" Morgana gasped.

Shirou looked at them with a conflicted expression, he closed his eyes as certain words began to replay in his head.

…usually Servants like myself would have to settle for being summoned by the hands of mages for something like this to happen…

"He… Gilles said something… right before I awakened to Mordred…"

Ann blinked at that, she frowned as she tried to remember anything that the bug eyed Servant had said. "What did he say?"

The redhead sighed and shook his head.

'Mages… magic… Servants… everything is connected to da… to him… is that why he did what he did to me…?' The redhead let out a breath and looked at the group. "That guy said something that may have clued me in onto something… I think I know who to ask about this…"

Everyone stood in attention, Akira stepped forward and looked him in the eye. "Who?"

Shirou raised his hands in a placating manner and winced. "Give me a moment… I'm still trying to wrap my head over what happened yesterday… and today… let me handle this, trust me. If I find anything, you'll be the first to know."

Akira looked back at Ryuji, and the blonde nodded with a shrug. The dark haired teen looked back at Shirou."It's alright… trust me. It's still something that is hard to wrap my head around with. But don't forget you can count on us, the both of you."

He gestured towards Shirou and Ann. Morgana climbed up Akira's back and got into his schoolbag. "Yeah, with two new Persona users on our side, nothing can get in our way. We'll figure out how to get into the Palace and take that treasure. We'll be counting on you to bring us information, got it Shirou?"

"Understood."

"Then let's go."

The group nodded at that and began to walk away together. Akira walked at the back as the tired thieves marched on towards the exit of the alleyway that would lead them to the train station.

"Mrmm…" Akira looked back as Morgana popped out of the bag and looked back.

"What's up Mona?"

"…" The cat didn't respond as he stared back to where they had stood moments prior with narrowed eyes. A second later he shook his head and got back inside the bag, letting his tired body rest. "Nothing… must be my imagination."

Akira shrugged and continued to follow his team until they disappeared around the corner.

They didn't notice the pair of eyes that followed their every movement, and had heard their entire conversation.

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.

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* * *

_4/15 Evening_

Shirou, Shiho and Ann walked slowly through Central Streets. The other half of the group separating and heading home through the train while they walked home to their apartments. The redhead rubbed his eyes tiredly, finding the mere action of raising his arm to perform the action to be to tiring.

He looked up at the night sky and sighed—noting his apartment complex just ahead when his eyes glanced over the building. He turned towards the girls.

"I guess this is it…you sure you don't want me to walk you home?"

Ann looked at him with a small smile and shook her head. "Nope. You already did way to much for me. So and rest up will you? You certainly deserve it!"

"I really don't min—!"

"Shirou-kun…" Shiho cut in, forcing him to look at her. "Seriously don't get so work up over this. Go and get some rest, we know how to handle ourselves."

"But…"

Ann groaned and started pushing forward. "Which one is your apartment!? That one!?"

"H-Hey! Quit it!" Shirou complained to tired to put a fight with the manhandling. An amused Shiho moved behind them.

The blonde kept going ignoring him. "You know how guilty I felt for all the trouble I caused you for being so dumb! So stop worrying so much for an idiot like me and go sleep! I know how hurt you got before you awakened to your Persona!"

Shihi's amusement faded away quickly at the words. "Ann…"

"No…" Ann shook her head as she stopped pushing as they reached the front door for the apartment complex, she glared down at the floor with her fists clenched. Shirou turned towards her with concern in his eyes. "I was so stupid…I nearly got you kill Shirou…I feel like crap just thinking that…so let me at least start making up for all the trouble I caused you an—!"

"Don't be an idiot." Shirou cut her off swiftly.

"Huh…?"

"You don't have to make up or owe me anything Takamaki-san. Even though it was reckless of you to jump into the Metaverse like, it was still my choice to go in and save you. And anyways…" The redhead looked away, placing a hand on his chest and closing his eyes as he felt the intense fire of his Persona within. "I couldn't leave you alone…I…I hate seeing people looking sad or crying…if I didn't move to help you…then I would still be stuck in the same miserable spot I was since this morning…"

"Shirou…" Ann breathed out in amazement, beside her Shiho snorted and slapped her forearm slightly. "OW—! What was that for Shiho!?"

"That's for being an idiot. And this…" The dark hair girl pinched the sides of the Ann, making her squeal. Shiho frowned and mercilessly started pinching her sides. "Is for being a dumbass and nearly getting yourself kill! You didn't even apologize to me!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! J-Just stop it—!" Ann gasped as the pinching cease. She groaned and grabbed her abused sides. "Geez Shiho…this is going to leave a mark…"

"Then don't be an idiot next time…in fact, so that you don't start feeling like blaming yourself again—how about making it up to both us, by not doing something stupid?" Shiho's words were firm and merciless as they poured out of her mout.

"I get it, I get it…I'll won't do something that reckless ever again okay…" Ann submitted to Shiho's ire, much to her delight.

"Good." Shiho nodded and crossed her arms as she turned towards a surprised Shirou. "As for you…"

"Me!?"

"Yeah, you!" Shiho pointed at his chest and glared at him. "I knew something was up this morning when you barely even greeted me in the morning! And then the entire day you had that depressed look in your eyes! Shirou…you know can count on me with anything right?"

The redhead was flabbergasted by her fierce words. His expression grew a little gloomy at the memories of last night conversation with his father. "I know…"

"You've been there for me when you really didn't have to be Shirou…you've helped me be able to fight back against Kamoshida and try to be a better friend to Ann…no, you helped me start to become an even better person that what I was before. You helped not to give up and to fight for what I want. So let me help you Shirou…I don't know what it was that got you so down in the morning, but if I had to take a shot in the dark…it's got to do with whatever you know of Servants, right?"

The redhead look at her with wide eyes. "H-How…yeah…but…I can't talk about it. Not yet…not until I myself understand just what is going on. But you'll be the first person I tell of why I was so down."

"You promise?"

"Ah, if it's a promise then I can't break it. I couldn't live with myself…but yeah I promise."

"Okay then…" Shiho breathed easy and gave Shirou a bright smile, one that he was forced to return with equal measure. The two stay focused on each other for a few seconds—both flinched when they heard a small giggle coming from Ann.

"Ah…I see how it is, hmm Shiho?" Ann smiled knowingly.

The dark hair girl frowned at her friend. "What's with that face Ann?"

"Well…I'm just wondering what I should call this ship, Shiho." The blonde's tired featured lightened greatly as she giggled at the confuse looks she was receiving. "I mean the two of you start out with Shi…so I wonder…?"

Shirou and Shiho both turned red at her words, both looked at each other and very abruptly turned away. The dark hair girl sent a dirty look at the amused blonde, stalked forward and grabbed her hand.

"I think we've stayed here long enough, Ann! Let's go to my place, you haven't visited in a while!"

Ann let out a full blown guffawed at the embarrassment from her friend, as she was dragged away she turned towards an equally embarrassed Shirou. "Bye Shirou! See you tomorrow! And again I'm sorry!"

Shiho turned back as well and smiled with burning cheeks. "Good luck Shirou-kun! And get some rest!"

"Yeah…" Shirou murmured as he weakly waved the two of them off. He stayed firmly looking at them until they disappeared into the night. He looked down, his cheeks red from Ann's teasing. "ugh, why is Takamaki's teasing getting me all work up…!?"

"You have had a busy day, Shirou."

The monotone words from the familiar voice of Maiya instantly made the redhead go cold. He turned towards the aloof woman and stared at her with fire on his eyes.

"You were spying on me, weren't you?"

"Spying would be the incorrect word to use. I was on surveillance duty, making sure when you would enter that 'other world' and what result you would bring forth."

"It seems like the same difference to me."

"And in the end it doesn't matter. Let's go inside the apartment, so that you may report about your newest expedition?"

Shirou's face crunched up into a frown, emotions welling up in him until—threatening to explode and…

His face cooled, a neutral expression glaring at the woman as he kept his emotions under his steely exterior. The woman raised an eyebrow at the change of behavior, her eyes scanning him and taking note of the newfound confidence and rebellious air around him.

Shirou ignored this and looked at her straight in the eyes.

"No…we're not going to talk about that."

"Oh?" Maiya's cold face remained the same, her monotone voice not even inflating at his defiance. He could see it clearly, she wasn't taking him seriously nor saw him as someone who could make a change.

But he would show her—if not now…

"Yeah. We're going to talk about something else…so, Maiya-san, tell me what's a Servant? And what does a historical figure like Gilles de Rais have to do with it?"

At her expression was the same cold and uncaring face she wore, but as a few seconds ticked by—it seemed as if the words he had uttered clicked and her eyes went wide.

"What…?"

Shirou looked at her intently, the sensation of fire burning deep within him making feel elated and nearly drunk with defiance.

_Mordred demanded for rebellion—_

And he was more than happy to answer that desire.

He gestured with his right hand towards the apartment complex front doors and threw her earlier demands right back at her.

"Let's go inside the apartment, so that you may report about your old magical expeditions?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTES
> 
> Hello there! It's been a while I know, but life has gotten in the way and I had to place my priorities on what was important.
> 
> But enough about that, this has to be the longest chapter that I have ever written. When I was writing this chapter, I wanted to show the struggle and defiance of the thieves towards the overwhelming odds while they were at a disadvantage. I think I can say did it, hehe.
> 
> Anyways, this long chapter should satisfied all of you who have been waiting for this story to update, I know for a fact that it was fun to write it. 
> 
> So okay, I think that's enough for now. The anime of Persona 5 is coming out very soon and I can't wait to see how they hopefully don't butcher it.
> 
> Hoped you enjoyed and liked the chapter. Please review and leave your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time! Adios!


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